A Midwinter's Tale
by Jopheil
Summary: Hiccup's life was just peachy. Homework, Snotlout's bullying, one-sided crush on Astrid, what more could you ever want? But his ordinary and mundane life takes a sharp turn when Hiccup accidentally stumbles upon a secret. A secret that includes the most popular boy in Berk High, Jack Frost. Hijack
1. Unexpected secrets

**My first hijack fanfic on this site. I hope you'll enjoy it!**

**Disclaimers: I don't own the characters. Goddammit!**

* * *

Berk High was just like any other high school, at least in Hiccup's opinion, but he had only one reference so he wasn't sure if he was allowed to utter such prejudiced statement. Nevertheless, if you would ask someone to describe high school, they would probably tell you a few anecdotes about high school as the best time of their lives. It's the place where you meet lots of new people, share fun experiences and learn more about the world. High school might be encircled by a merry atmosphere in our memories. Or is it? Some people would beg to differ and some might have repressed the entire picture. However, Berk High held the most stereotypical concept. The jocks were usually the popular, muscular and preposterously handsome ones. It was rare for them to socialize with other categories, but they made exceptions for cheerleaders and anyone popular in general. Then you got the popular beautiful girls, dating the handsome douches and traveling in groups, usually but not always. Of course, there were also the punks, the nerds, the emos, the goths and the thugs. Although they were subgroups in comparison to the majority population of Berk High, but people didn't mess with them. To be honest everyone was scared of the consequences because these subgroups usually had a vast contact field, insulting them would be like committing suicide in a way.

But as always, high schools also have outcasts, which is the reason for the creation of this story in the first place. Because this school had Hiccup, or his true name was actually Henry, but he was called Hiccup for a certain reason. You see, most of the residents of Berk derived from the Vikings, thus a lot of traditional customs were still practiced or applied to the daily routine. In the old days, Vikings believed that a hideous name would frighten off gnomes and trolls, like the charming Viking demeanor wasn't enough, hence the weird nickname. And Hiccup, the centerpiece of this story, didn't just have the worst nickname in the world; he also had the worst combination in the school system. Not only was he a nerd, but also socially awkward, weird and sarcastic. He was located at the bottom of the hierocracy. His only function was to be the scapegoat, the runt or the laughing stock.

Hiccup sighed while he was sitting at his school desk, or well, it had been his spot for the last two years as no one else had wanted to conquer this tainted seat. It was still early morning, thus the morning sun emitted warmth and serenity to the environment. A phenomenon that Hiccup loved dearly because it spread a piece of hope, as one could observe the darkness submitting to the light. Inspiration permeated more easily through his mind with this kind of beautiful setting. This was why one could find Hiccup drawing in solitude at his school desk, before everyone stormed into the classrooms, disturbing the peace and beauty.

The flow of his pen graced across the paper with ease and one could distinguish the shape of a dragon from the paper after a few minutes. This was probably the most breathtaking concept his brain had ever created; the Night Fury, the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. It had a sleek black body with a shade of blue, large fins that covered its tail and back, accompanied by a pair of massive bat-like wings. Slightly catlike, but it was the part Hiccup loved the most as it resembled his furry little best friend, Toothless.

The shape of the creature continued to form a more distinctive shape and Hiccup was completely enthralled by the piece when a loud slam interrupted his thoughts, and he couldn't help but to flinch and jump at the loud sound. He had been so occupied and stuck in his own thoughts that he hadn't even noticed the growing numbers of adolescents in the corridor, who were causing quite a fuss outside of the room. Hiccup lifted his head to observe the intruders and the culprits who had slammed the door in such a harsh way. He silently groaned when he saw Snotlout and his gang, Tuffnutt and Ruffnut.

"Still drawing on your ugly weird-ass dragons?" Snotlout shoved Hiccup's shoulder as he bypassed him, causing Hiccup to lose the grip over his pen so it fell to the hard floor.

"Good morning to you too." Hiccup mumbled as he tried to retrieve the pen, bending his body from the seat.

"What can you say, weird people generate weird things, obviously." Tuffnut snickered at his own joke, following their leader.

Hiccup faked a laugh. "Yeah, hilarious. Did you figure out that logical conclusion _all_ by yourself?"

"Watch it dragon boy." Snotlout exclaimed from the back. "I wouldn't want to hit the few sane brain cells you got left. Or well. Yeah, I do actually. Who knows, I might hit some sense into you."

Hiccup opened his sarcastic mouth to send a snappy response, but thankfully or luckily, he never got his chance as the other classmates entered the room, quickly filling the empty seats. Especially one of those classmates riveted his attention from the room and its activities; Astrid, his two year long crush, the most badass and beautiful girl in the whole school. He usually had a very sophisticated language, mind you, but she managed to inhibit his speech, as if she had put him in a magical trance. But it wasn't his fault that she made him all tingly and giddy, which probably wasn't normal in the first place, as he had never had a real conversation with her. But there was something special about her that captured everyone's attention and gazes. Her sheer personality enchanted him, transforming him into a blushing bride and stuttering creature whenever he saw her face.

He had never met a girl like Astrid, she never submitted to flattery, tokens of affection or unfortunately awkward and clumsy teenager boys, such as Hiccup. However, it gave him some comfort that no one else had managed to win her heart, not even one of those popular and handsome jocks. On the other hand that logically allocated him with zero percent chance of ever winning her affection. He sighed of despair as he picked up the school notebooks, still keeping his drawing pad on the bench.

"Hey babe, there is an empty seat beside me for you." Snotlout patted the seat beside him with a smug smile on his face. But Astrid only glared at him as she took the seat almost beside Hiccup, chewing on her bubblegum nonchalantly.

"Oh come on Astrid, I could make your life so much better over here."

"How? Are you leaving?" Astrid said coolly, making Hiccup laugh silently, but he was barely able to contain his laughter when he observed Snotlout's face of sheer frustration.

"And what are you laughing at, dragon boy?" He sneered; Hiccup inwardly cursed because his body had probably revealed his laughter. It was not unusual for his body to slightly quiver when laughing.

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

"You better not." Snotlout glared at him menacingly, but it didn't really affect him as Astrid smiled at him. All the negative feelings seemed to disappear when he received such a dazzling smile and he couldn't really fight the smile that tugged at his lips as a response, slightly blushing at Astrid's sudden attention.

The clock was almost eight o'clock when the last and the most popular person in the class stepped into the room. His clothes and hair were a bit disheveled, but that didn't stop the ladies from swooning at his attractive attributes. The true jokester of the school, Jack Frost, there wasn't a day when you didn't hear about his pranks, mischiefs or 'fun' events, as he was not a person for concentration or leisure. Hiccup didn't know where he got his energy from, but it certainly made him popular and fun for most people. Not for Hiccup though, no, because he enjoyed the solitude and peaceful activities. In fact, he was the sheer opposite to Jack. However, no one could really hate the lad, especially not girls; he was practically prince charming on a very naughty horse for god's sake. Hence, it wasn't unusual for Jack to be surrounded by girls or popular males.

And since he had been the last person to enter the room, then there was only one seat left, the one next to Hiccup. He groaned inwardly. _Oh gods, please just ignore me. Don't mind me and my awkwardness, I don't need more humiliation._ He thought as he faced the window instead of the whiteboard. Jack had never personally pulled any pranks on Hiccup, mostly because Hiccup had kept a very low profile over the years and he tended to run to unpopular places during breaks. Though, he surely wouldn't be surprised if Jack decided to join with Snotlout's trend of bullying. All for the laughs.

"Hi." A voice greeted him.

_And the humiliation continues,_ Hiccup sighed and rotated his head towards the newcomer, not knowing if he should reply or not, but that riddle was quickly solved as Jack continued the unilateral conversation.

"Nice dragon."

Hiccup frowned at him before he looked sheepishly at his notepad. "Uh, thanks, I guess." The subsequent silence was almost unbearable, especially since Jack continued to observe him as he drew on his Night Fury.

"I'm sorry to ask, but could I borrow a pen?" Jack broke the quiet atmosphere, apparently not registering Hiccup's awkwardness or just ignoring it.

Hiccup didn't know if it was some sort of deceiving maneuver before the real prank occurred, but that gentle voice was hard to defy. "Yeah- Yeah, sure." He said before he handed over a pen.

"Thanks." Jack accidently touched Hiccup's hand as Jack accepted the pen and a shiver travelled across Hiccup's spine. Those hands were ice-cold, even more ice-cold than his hands had been when he had been outside for six hours straight during a cold winter day, and that just wasn't normal; it was beneath the crucial body-temperature limit. "Have you always been in this class?"

Hiccup snorted as he was pulled away from his suspicious thoughts, but he wasn't shocked that Jack hadn't noticed him before, because he was usually quiet for various reasons. "Nah, not like I've been here for the past two years."

Jack snickered. "Well sorry for not being attentive, but I haven't really seen you around much."

"Well, you got me. I'm mostly invisible; it's a bad habit of mine."

Jack was about to respond when the teacher began preaching and writing on the whiteboard, which was the cue for silence or you would get a detention notice. And no matter how much Jack loved to defy rules and laws, then he wasn't up for any detention. Because sitting in a room with nothing more than a bunch of desks and a teacher, would eventually make him crawl on the walls. Thus, he kept his good conduct during the lectures.

Everything went quite smoothly during the day. No ominous events had occurred yet, Hiccup's brain was sharper than usual and the lessons were quite entertaining for once, it was basically heaven. He easily solved the arduous equations and complex tasks, because despite all his faults and clumsiness, then he was really intelligent. He didn't want to brag, really, but he was one of the top students in this high school. His explicit appearance deceived most people, even his dad, which led people to believe that he was just a puny and daft little kid. When he was in fact so much more than that, as people say, one shouldn't judge the book by its cover. He could almost beat anyone, or well, at least in cognitive thinking.

But the joy of the day quickly dispersed as PE began, which really wasn't his thing. Physical training that involved any sort of body coordination or physical activity? Definitely not his thing. Hiccup really tried to move like a graceful panther, but he always ended up as a clumsy elephant. His body just wouldn't work with him. Thus, he was usually the one who ruined the games, especially in team activities, god have mercy on the team that was allocated Hiccup as a team member. He tried his best to keep distance from the actual game or find a reason to skip PE, but not this time. The coach had practically thrown him into the field without even listening to Hiccup's excuses. Nasty man. And that was the story of how he ended up in the locker room with an incredible red face and an ice-pack, because a soccer ball had hit him straight in the face, leaving a bright red imprint of failure on his face. He clung to the ice-pack for his dear life, hoping the red tint would evaporate before he was heading towards home.

"Excellent performance on the field, dragon boy." Tuffnut sneered as he bypassed Hiccup.

"Yeah, I've never seen anyone tripping over the ball so many times. It was really 'badass'." Snotlout added, snatching the ice-pack to later throw it in a trash-bin.

_Couldn't he just leave me alone for one day? Just one day? Is that so much to ask for?_ He asked the gods. "Thank you, thank you, I'm glad that my attempts to be badass actually succeeded."

"Oh definitely, you were a great help out there." Tuffnut mocked.

"Yeah yeah." Hiccup waved dismissively as he watched them leave the department, slightly grieving his trashed ice-pack. He looked at the trash-bin and sighed loudly before he hoisted his knapsack onto his back.

* * *

Hiccup walked through the major park of the city, as it was a shortcut to his home and it bestowed the most beautiful scenery in every season. The treetops were covered with snow, shimmering a light blue hue in the shadows. Actually, the entire park was covered with several centimeters of snow. Hence, a lot of kids were playing on the fields, creating snowmen and snow angels, and having snowball fights. It was another perfect, luminous and normal day in Berk, or well, it was a rare event that the sun peeked through the clouds, but other than that, a completely ordinary day. Sauntering with a light heart and slow pace, Hiccups absorbed the tranquil feeling from the environment, as he had no reason to hurry home. Contentment seeped through his veins, fading the humiliating memories of the PE lesson until he stepped on something abnormal. Hiccup had walked into the forest of the park when his gaze had been riveted by something unusual, a strange blue light, which shimmered amongst the trees. It wasn't a prominent light; rather it fluctuated like a star, emitting a perpetual and enthralling glow. He was so fascinated by the glow that he hadn't even noticed that his feet had automatically walked towards the light instead of sticking to the road, as if a puppeteer was pulling his threads. He stopped abruptly at the realization. What on earth was he doing? When has it ever been a good idea to follow mysterious things into the woods?

Hiccup shook his head and returned to the road again, but curiosity gnawed at his brain. _Just ignore it, goddammit. _He reprimanded himself, but that itch of curiosity wouldn't knock it off. It continued to spread throughout his entire body until it became unbearable, throbbing, aching and begging him to investigate the mysterious light.

"Argh!" He grunted to himself before he shifted direction again. _How bad can it be, it's in the middle of the main park and it is daylight. Not like it's a murderer or something._ He reasoned while he approached the light with extreme caution. His heart was drumming wildly, even if he had tried to convince himself that there was nothing to fear. He sneaked forward from tree to tree, always trying to cover his body as his head occasionally peeked from the stems. But the mysterious object was veiled by the thick bushes and dense vegetation; he couldn't actually see the source of the light until he was only a few feet from it.

He gasped in astonishment.

It was a boy.

Hiccup froze in awe when he saw the floral patterns of frost roam in the air, which had been emitted from the boy's hands, like fireworks. It hadn't been a light, it had been magic. _Real fucking magic_. It was stunning to observe the spectacular show. In fact, Hiccup was so entranced by the scene that he didn't notice the boy's attributes. The frost diverted his attention from any other kind of important information, but not for long as his brain started to recognize that famous white hair. Focusing his eyes on the boy instead of the frost, he gasped in shock.

Jack Frost. Jack Bloody Frost had magical abilities.

And he was about to turn his head towards Hiccup.

_Shit!_ Hiccup thought as he quickly covered his face with the stem of the tree, hoping that he hadn't been exposed. _Shit, shit! He is practicing magic out in the woods, probably because he doesn't want anyone to see him! And I just saw him! _Horror spread through his veins, because Jack would probably become furious if he caught Hiccup's prying. And for all he knew; Jack could be a murderer, the kind that killed everyone who discovered his secret. Perhaps the bodies were thrown into ditches to make it look like a motorway accident. Normal people found twigs, dead animals or forgotten things in the woods, but no, it was just Hiccup's normal luck to actually find magic and perhaps a ruthless killer. _I'm not staying to find out. _He tried to sneak away from the spot, heading towards safety and his home in an almost inaudible movement.

"What's the hurry?"

"AH!" Hiccups jumped and spun around to the low voice. His heart was racing like a thousand horses which cantered across a field; he could basically hear it in his own ears.

"A-ah. I-I'm not in a hurry, just, taking a w-walk. Beautiful normal day isn't it?" He tried to maintain his voice to normal mode, but his body betrayed him by occasionally emitting a high-pitched sound. _Oh gods. He does look furious. He is a killer, he is definitely a killer. _

Jack leaned against a tree, throwing and catching a snowball with his right hand. It went up and down in a serene manner, but Hiccup guessed that snowball could easily be altered into a deadly weapon, at least with Jack's magic abilities. Hiccup gulped.

"You saw it, didn't you?"

"W-what? Saw what? I-I didn't see anything. I'm observing trees you see as I really lo-ove trees. I'm surprised to actually see you here. What are you doing here? Taking a walk too?" He rambled in distress, trying to sound like he really hadn't seen anything, but that ship had probably sailed a long time ago.

Jack pushed himself off the tree and strolled towards hiccup.

"Save your rambling, I saw you looking at me and my tricks." Hiccup tried to back away, but Jack followed every step and watched Hiccup's moves like a hawk.

_Oh dear gods, he is going to kill me!_

"Alright, alright!" Hiccup threw up his hands in a disarming gesture of surrender and perhaps as a shield for incoming attacks. "Now now, let's just take this nice and easy! No drastic actions that we might regret!" The brunet spluttered while his voice started to quiver, trying to desperately keep a certain distance between them. "I'm sorry, alright? But I didn't exactly expect to find a boy with magic in the woods. And to be fair, those fireworks weren't exactly discreet."

The snow-haired boy raised an eyebrow. "And to be fair, don't you know one shouldn't sneak around in a forest alone?"

Hiccup opened his mouth to respond and closed it just as fast when he couldn't think of an adequate answer.

"So." Jack studied the short male with interest. "It looks like I've been caught in action for the first time. And I've been here for a _long_ time kid." Jack continued, tapping his chin with his fingers. "I wonder what I should do."

_Not murdering, not murdering._ Hiccup's breath hitched in anxiousness. "Nothing! Absolutely nothing!" He spluttered. "I mean I kinda like my life, it might not be a great life, but you know, it is at least something. And I could just walk away as if nothing had happened. Win-win don't you think?" He swallowed the big lump in his throat, trying to keep a solemn face.

"I think we are past the point of no-return, don't you think?"

"Nah, I think we are just before it."

Jack smirked.

"Calm down kid, it's not like I'm going to eat you." The snow-haired lad said before bringing his right hand to his chin, contemplating in silence for a suitable solution. "I guess it only would be fair to trade a secret for a secret." Hiccup opened his mouth, ready to reveal a secret, but Jack stopped him by pointing a finger at his face. "One that could ruin your life if it was spilled."

Hiccup frowned at him dumbfounded.

"But I don't have one of those."

Jack looked at him in disbelief. "Everyone got at least one."

"Not me. I usually got everything bad, but I'm sadly missing that one."

Jack sighed. "Well, I need something to keep you at bay."

"Look, I wouldn't tell a soul if you just let me go. You don't need anything 'to keep me at bay' for me to shut up. It's not like I've anyone to tell anyway." Hiccup air-quoted.

"Oh yeah, and how will I know that you really won't spill my secret?"

Hiccup just stared at him with a disbelieving expression. _Really? Fucking really?_ "Yeah, because everyone will believe the awkward, weird and outcast kid when he tells them that Jack Frost possesses magical abilities. No, they won't think that I've finally become crazy, not at all."

Jack Frost frowned at him. "You're not that much of an outcast or weird."

Hiccup arched his eyebrows in return. "Have you met me? I'm like the definition of outcast, awkward and weird."

A smile began to tug at Jack's lips; this kid was really something special. "You're exaggerating."

"No, no. I assure you. Pick any dictionary and search for the words outcast, awkward or weird and you will see my face." He said as he pointed at his face.

Jack laughed out loud, not believing his ears as he had never met a person as sarcastic as this one, it was quite refreshing and funny in comparison to some of his other mates' humor. And anything that contained fun was a thing for Jack.

The snow-haired boy shook his head. "Nah, you're alright kid."

"That's not the major belief among the students." Hiccups murmured, suddenly becoming a bit bashful and awkward, because he wasn't accustomed to getting compliments. Even if it wasn't a huge compliment per se, then it was something different in comparison to all the insults he received in a day, thus he avoided Jack's penetrating ice-blue gaze by looking at the ground. "And stop calling me a kid, I'm short not young." Hiccup added.

"Your appearance says otherwise. You do know that you look like a fourteen-year old boy, right?"

Hiccup snorted, quite offended by the statement. "I'm sorry to say that I'm older than you, so if anyone is a kid here, then it's you." Not his snappiest comeback, but yeah.

"Really? Nah, that cannot be right, you're sure that you didn't confuse your birth year with someone else's'?" Jack mocked, receiving a glare from Hiccup. _Excuse me? I'm not retarded_, the brunet thought. But before he could counter with an insult, Jack continued his twenty questions_._ "And hey, how do you know that you are older than me? Have you been spying on me?"

"It's not like those huge birthday parties or events of yours at our school is a huge giveaway." Hiccup rolled his eyes.

Jack snapped his fingers as a gesture of recalling facts. "Oh yeah, obviously. Shame, here I almost thought I had got another male stalker and admirer."

Hiccup cheeks heated. "Don't flatter yourself. Not everyone adores you." He muttered, trying to cool down his cheeks by sheer will.

"Oh?" Jack grinned smugly at him, because he had noticed the faint shade of pink on the brunet's cheeks. "I beg to differ. Everyone loves me because everyone loves fun times. And since you haven't really been around me." Jack arched his shoulder along with a wide grin. "That would kinda explain it. You don't know what it feels to have real fun."

Hiccup shrugged. "Well, I'm not much for pranks and fun. Sorry. You cannot convert this one."

"Is that a challenge, dragon boy?" Jack smirked and leaned forward, clearly invading the shorter male's personal space, his eyes full of mischief.

Hiccup was befuddled when he felt summersaults in his belly, it was a strange yet familiar feeling, but he couldn't put his finger on the emotion that flowed through his veins and that worried him. Perhaps it was a warning that he shouldn't provoke the most popular boy in high school, mostly because he would probably become the next target of Jack's pranks for the rest of the year.

"Nah, it just means that you should leave me alone or you, sir, would play a _very _dangerous game."

"Oh yeah?" Jack challenged back.

"Yeah. There would be lots bad consequences." Hiccup cursed at himself for the last part. He and his big mouth, because now Jack would definitely accept the challenge as he had never backed away from a dangerous activity, unless it was a boring perilous event. But then again, since when was danger ever boring?

"Challenge accepted." Jack jabbed the shorted male's torso, smirking at the brunet teenager who stared back in shock at the white-haired boy before Jack continued their previous topic. "But what should we do about all this." He questioned. "Perhaps I should lock you up in the basement, or perhaps sew your mouth. Or no no, perhaps I should collar your neck with a short leash, then I would be able to use you as a pet and keep my eyes on you 24/7." He said as he circled the teenager, occasionally jumping on some snow piles.

Hiccup just gaped repeatedly at all his suggestions while a red hue bloomed across his freckled cheeks. "You cannot be serious. I just told you no one will ever believe me!" He sputtered.

"I'm deadly serious. Because even if students won't believe your story, then there is no telling if scientists will believe your story or not, and believe it or not, but I don't feel like becoming a lab rat." He had stopped in his tracks, using his most serious voice as he glowered into those beautiful Viridian eyes. He had been playing with the lad at the beginning; but he hadn't been planning to do any of those crazy things of course. Or wait, he did consider the collar and leash part for real, _Hm_. But the last sentence had been actually completely authentic.

Hiccup groaned in despair. "Cannot you just take my word when I say that I will never utter a word once I've exited the park? It would be as if it had never happened."

Jack didn't answer; he just continued to stare into his eyes as if he was completely enthralled by those green hues. A gesture that made Hiccup feel awkward, _really_ awkward after a few seconds, and that deep red hue across his cheeks didn't help the scenario.

"Jack? Um- As nice as this is, then I'm starting to feel a bit awkward in this position, or w-well, more awkward than usual, not that-" He was interrupted by a buzzing noise in Jack's pocket, it was the other teenager's phone. Jack narrowed his eyes on the brunet, as if he didn't know if he could afford to let him go from his focus, because he had the feeling that the short kid would try to run away. But he had no choice but to answer the call and he placed the phone against his ear as he walked away from the boy in order to get some privacy. Hiccup didn't know if he was supposed to run for his life when Jack finally turned his back on him. Perhaps he could hire some guards to protect him from the crazy lad. However, he didn't reckon that guards would be able to fight against magical abilities. His only remaining option was to move to another city, somewhere far, far away where Jack could never find him. Yes, he liked that plan quite a lot and he began to move slowly backwards in order to execute his plan, but then Jack suddenly shut his phone with a loud click and spun around to aim his entire attention on Hiccup again, walking towards him until Jack was right in front of him.

"I've to go, but this isn't finished. I'll keep an eye on you and believe me when I say that I can keep an eye on you 24/7." He said seriously.

He opened his mouth to respond to the statement, but he found himself completely baffled and empty of answers, as if his brain had stopped functioning. In the end he could only nod at the other boy.

"Good, I'll see you at school." Jack touched the shorter man's shoulder, leaving a mark of frost before he walked away hastily. Hiccup guessed that the frost markings on his jacket was a clear reminder of what he was dealing with. Dread filled him as his brain was slowly adapting to reality, going through everything in detail. Oh double fuck. Oh fuckily fuck fuck. How on earth would he be able to explain this to his dad?

Hiccup groaned in frustration, kicking a pile of snow. His father would never believe his story and he would never be able to convince his father to suddenly move to another city. A person didn't just drop their job in order to move to another city when their kid told him so.

"Why me?!" He cursed to the gods while he looked at the clear cerulean sky. "Argh!" He ruffled his hair, making it look even more disheveled than before.

* * *

**To be continued!**

**So, I should probably tell you guys that English is not my native language and I do not have a beta-reader. There are probably a lot of grammar and spelling mistakes in this story. But I will continue this story if my English skills aren't too atrocious and if people actually seem to like this story. So hopefully I will see you guys around! (It will be updated every week"-ish")**


	2. Oh fuck

**First of all; Thank you everyone for the favs, follows and wooonderful reviews! I'm literally bursting of joy, grinning like a damn idiot.**

**Second of all; I forgot to mention this in the first chapter. This will be a slow-build fic, it will contain a lot of fluff and it seems to become pretttyy long. Like seriously. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned into a 100k fic.**

* * *

The sky darkened as he was heading towards his home, because the sun wasn't up for long during the winter days of Berk, which was really a shame. Hiccup usually loved the tranquil environment of snow, where he could draw and read in peace while most of the inhabitants stayed indoors during this season, except the kids, but he had nothing against kids. He only loathed teenagers, actually, mostly just Snoutlout and his gang since they never stopped to taunt or annoy him. Those annoying and immature sods.

Hiccup went into his dark house, which revealed that his dad was working late again. It didn't really surprise him because his father, Stoick Haddock, was the head of a famous company. Thus, he had many assignments and duties to fulfill. A role that would be delegated to Hiccup later in life, at least it was what his father expected to happen. But Hiccup had no plans to step into his father's shoes; he didn't really know what he wanted to do with his life, but certainly not that. Just look at him. He was a scrawny and awkward little kid with no social competence, how on earth would he be able to lead other people? There was no logical connection to be found.

"Toothless?" He called as he opened the door to his obscure room, where he could hear a distinct meow from his bed. Toothless was barely visible in the dim background, one could only see a pitch-black bulge in the bed, protruding in the complete darkness.

"Hi there bud." He flicked on the lights and headed towards the cat, joining Toothless in the bed. The black cat purred as his owner nuzzled closer, stroking the cat's silky fur.

"Oh man, I'm so screwed Toothless." Hiccup moaned in despair. "I'm sure I'm going to die tomorrow if I don't run away." The cat's head perked up at the comment, as if he could understand human language and he meowed in confusion. Hiccup only rubbed his own head with his hands.

"What on earth am I going to do?" He threw himself backwards, spreading his body over the bed. Hiccup craned his neck to the side in order to face Toothless. "If only you could turn into a dragon and eat him, or perhaps not eat him, but at least scare him off." Toothless had the most befuddled expression he had ever observed on his face, but a tint of protectiveness could be distinguished in the look as well, but Hiccup just sighed loudly as he observed the dark ceiling. Because even if the little bugger was fierce and very protective of Hiccup, then Toothless sharp teeth and claws wouldn't be able to protect him from magic.

"Hiccup?" Hiccup's head perked up at the sound. Stoick, Hiccup's father, called on him from the first floor "Are you home? I brought dinner!"

"Oh gods yes." Hiccup leapt from the bed and scurried down the stairs. The kitchen table had already been prepared in advance, as they usually had late dinners and none of them had the energy to set the table in the evenings. Hence, Hiccup only dashed to his seat, waiting for his dad to bring the food. Toothless had trailed his owner with a gullible expression, obviously hoping to get some leftovers while he sat near Hiccup's feet, meowing.

"Throw that devil outside." Stoick grumbled as he entered the kitchen, glaring at the cat which responded with a hiss.

"Dad, we have been talking about this. He is a family member, not Satan or whatever you are implying." Hiccup stroked his friend's fur in a comforting gesture, because he would never let anyone harm his cat. If Toothless was going to be kicked out, then they would have to kick out Hiccup too.

"Being a family member doesn't stop him from stealing our food." Stoick reprimanded, putting the food on the table. A mist of water vapor hovered above plastic containers of the freshly cooked vegetables, shrimps and noodles_. _Hiccup inwardly cheered when he breathed in the scent of heaven.

"What can I say, he got a stomach too." He shrugged.

Stoick grunted in response as he took a seat next to his son. The room fell into a comfortable silence as two males helped themselves with fresh food, consuming the nutriment with great pleasure. Although Hiccup's brain couldn't stop calculating and contemplating the day, as he was desperate for a solution to this magical dilemma. That was when a shrewd little idea popped up in his mind.

"Hey dad, I was wondering. What do you feel about vacations?"

Stoick arched his eyebrows at the lad. "What do you mean?"

"Like, isn't it time for us to take a vacation? Like tomorrow, as we haven't been on a vacation for a very long, long time. It's about time, don't you think?"

Stoick stopped eating and placed his cutlery on the sides of the plate, eyeing the lad with great suspicion. "Alright, what has happened this time?" He said with a somber face.

"Wha-?" Hiccup frowned, flinging his hands up in the air due to the sudden and actually _incorrect_ accusation. "Nothing! Why do you always assume I've done something terrible?" He jabbed the fork in the air against his dad, who just quirked one eyebrow. Hiccup rolled his eyes at the gesture. "Alright fine, I might not be the most elegant teenager-"

Stoick snorted. "To put it mildly."

"Anyways-" Hiccup interrupted his father's accusations, because he didn't want to hear more about all his father's disappointments in him. That was already a rather familiar area to Hiccup. "-I just feel kind burntout, you know? And with that hectic job of yours, I would guess you feel the same."

"Even if I do, I cannot just abandon my company. It's not my place to do so." Stoick continued to eat. "Besides, we are Vikings, we are resilient and tough. You are not going to let some stress defeat you, are you?" He smirked at his son, encouraging him to exploit that Viking blood of his.

Hiccup just wanted to slam his face on the table, _not this Viking stuff again,_ because he had honestly had enough of his ancestors. He was nothing like them, expect the obstinacy, and he wouldn't become one of them soon either. "But doesn't Hawaii sound-"

"Son. It isn't that long before the winter holidays are kicking in. You just have to wait until then."

Hiccup looked at his food in defeat and grumbled as he knew this conversation had reached its end. His father had won as always, because Stoick never really listened to Hiccup's suggestions or ideas. Thus, there was no use to keep on nagging, because it would only lead to nasty outcomes.

"And speaking of vacations." Hiccup's head perked up. "I've fixed a summer job for you at the company." Okay, now Hiccup _really_ wanted to slam his head on something or shoot himself, preferable the latter. A loud sigh could be heard from the young male, since he had already made it clear that he didn't want anything to do with the company. But did his father listen? _Nooo._ If one wanted to experience a one-sided conversation, try talking to his dad! You won't be disappointed!

"I know you didn't want to work this summer, but it's only a couple of weeks and I think it's time for you to get to know the company." His father continued.

"Great. Definitely looking forward to it." Actually, he had been looking forward to a long, free and warm summer to spend all his leisure time on drawing and inventing things. But his dad had thrown that out of the window in a millisecond with great enthusiasm. Or well, there would be leisure time, just not as much as Hiccup had actually planned.

Stoick sighed as he saw his son's defeated expression. "You are almost an adult now Hiccup; it's time for you to know your upcoming duties and responsibilities. You must learn to think like me, act like me and conduct like me." The older male shot his best smile at Hiccup. "It will be fun son."

"Yeah." He impaled the noodles with his fork, canalizing all his ire into it. Toothless stroked his head against Hiccup's legs in comfort, trying to cheer up his owner.

* * *

Hiccup really didn't want to go to school today, because he didn't want to face Jack, who knew what kind of ideas he had planned for the young boy. His stomach revolted in protest whenever the image of Jack appeared in his mind. He had an ill-omened feeling about today, he just knew something bad would happen.

A knock interrupted the serene silence. "Hiccup, it's time for you to leave."

That was when another plan popped in Hiccups head and he faked a few coughs. "I can't dad, I'm sick; I better just skip school today." He said with a hoarse voice. _Go acting skills._ But his small moment of triumph evaporated the moment his dad entered the room, turning on the lights.

"Son, I know that you aren't sick."

"I am! I have a very sore throat and probably fever. And you know me; I really don't want to infect anyone with this dreadful cold." He faked a few more coughs.

Stoick walked towards the bed, laying a hand on Hiccup's forehead. "I know when you're acting, especially now when I know that you aren't even warm. And you know better than to skip school, even if a frightful event is waiting for you over there."

"But dad-!" Hiccup whined.

"Viking blood travels through your veins. We do not give up, certainly not to trivial school activities. You've already missed too much of school and I don't want you to fall behind."

"Oh come on, I can easily catch up, please just this one time-"

"Hiccup, there is a limit and you cannot expect to make your relatives proud if this conduct continues. Is that understood?" Stoick said in a stern voice, trying to sound authoritative.

"But-"

"Understood?"

Hiccup sighed as he knew he wouldn't be able to convince his dad. Besides, Stoick would probably haul him to the school if he had to.

"Yeah. Understood."

"Good. Be ready in ten minutes." He patted the covers and the boy underneath it, before he marched out of the door and continued his way down the stairs.

Hiccup rolled onto his back, spreading his arms dramatically on the blanket when he knew that his dad was out of reach in the area.

"That's it. I'm dead. I'm so dead." He muttered, enjoying his last minutes in his bed before he had to head towards the deathtrap in the form of a school. He was basically only waiting for his life to flash before his eyes. "Better get it over with." He threw himself up from the bed, gathering his knapsack before he joined his father in the car.

* * *

Hiccup had entered the school with great caution and he had observed every corner, new corridor and gang with calculating eyes, trying to discover death traps. However, Jack was nowhere to be found, not even with his customary gang of girls and popular guys, which was weird, very weird in Hiccup's rational world. If he was really lucky, then Jack was actually sick, staying at home to take care of his vulnerable body. One could only hope.

Hiccup observed his surroundings before he unbolted his locker, quickly throwing in the backpack and fetching his supplies. He knew he was a bit too paranoid, because Jack probably didn't even know the location of Hiccup's locker, at least he hoped for that fact to be true as he had never really seen Jack stroll around in these parts. In fact, he never really saw Jack at all, except in certain classes, lunch or outside with his friends, because Jack wasn't much of an indoor type. Thus he had probably nothing to worry about as long as he was cautious. He nodded to himself, trying to convince himself of safety when he closed the locker.

"Good morning." A clear and baritone voice said, which belonged to a certain tall teenager with ice-blue eyes.

"WHATTHE-!" Hiccup screeched in horror and skipped at the sudden sound, dropping all his supplies on the floor. He spun his head around, looking at the boy who had been concealed behind the locker door, causing him to suddenly emerge when the door had been closed. "What the hell, you scared the shit out of me." Hiccup covered his face with his hands, so much for not remaining paranoid. "Can you teleport as well?" He grunted in a low voice, so only Jack could hear him.

"Not really. I'm just really awesome at sneaking, especially when I'm not wearing any creaking shoes." He demonstrated by wriggling his toes.

Hiccup dropped his hands when he saw the gesture. "Why wouldn't you wear any shoes?" It was goddamn winter, who would voluntarily walk without any shoes?

"To be able to sneak up on you?" He offered. "And I like the feeling of freedom."

Hiccup looked at him as if Jack was the dumbest kid around. "They are shoes. Not a prison. They keep you warm."

Jack shrugged while he shot the auburn-haired male a grin. "I have other reasons as well, none that I will tell you here."

Hiccup rolled his eyes as he tried to quickly gather his supplies, but an awkward sensation began to creep over him because of Jack's scrutiny. Instead of walking away, he actually huddled on the floor and helped Hiccup to gather his things. "Thanks." He muttered while Jack handed over his last supplies, not expecting for the other teenager to actually be kind. "So what are you doing _here_?"

"Cannot I just be friendly with my lovely classmate? A good old regular _Bonding moment_?"

Hiccup narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, because we were such best buds before this conversation." Then the conversation from yesterday appeared in his mind. "Wait, are you spying on me? Is this your 24/7 spying plan? Following me around?"

Jack only smirked at him. "Maybe, maybe not."

Hiccup eyes squinted even more at the lad. "Great. Well, good luck on that while I head to my classes." He said before he began to promenade away, hoping that this was the end of the conversation, because no one wanted to speak with Hiccup anyways, not more than necessary. But oh how he was wrong. Jack defied all norms and traditions in every aspect.

"What classes do you have?" Hiccup jumped again at the sudden voice that was close to his ear. _He really needed to stop teleporting or whatever he did!_

"Do you want to know that in order to know where you can torture and spy on me?"

"I'm seriously hurt for you to think that ill of me." Jack pretended to clutch his heart in despair as a dramatic gesture before he strolled closely to Hiccup's side, trying to get a glimpse of the scheme, but Hiccup continued to hide it from his snooping eyes. "C'mon, I'm just curious."

"I'm definitely not telling the prankster of the school."

"Oh really? Well, then I guess I've to take this matter in my own capable hands."

Hiccup frowned at the comment. "What do you-?"

Jack interrupted his sentence by snatching the scheme right from his hands, causing Hiccup to protest against the sudden deed and reach for the stolen goods without any success.

"Hum, let's see what you got." Jack said as he pranced cheerily down the corridor, observing the piece of paper. "Ah, art, one of my favorites. And oh oh, you got chemistry after that, always the perfect class for blowing up things." He chuckled naughtily.

"Hand that back over!" He tried to reach for it, but Jack skipped back, starting to jog slightly.

"Hmm." Jack contemplated with an innocent smile, tapping his face with his index finger for a few seconds until the motion suddenly stopped. "How about no?" He mouthed dramatically as he shot the brunette a wide ear to ear grin, before he sprinted and skipped playfully down the corridor.

Hiccup just stared in shock with wide eyes for a few seconds before his brain could catch up. His scheme had just been snatched away. By Jack Frost. _Crap. Double crap._

"Hey! Get back here!" Hiccup exclaimed before he darted after the thief.

"Oh and look here, we got about three classes together, how fun!" Jack shouted over his shoulder while he was running and holding the paper with both of his hands.

"Jack! I'm serious!" The brunette tried to follow him with his best effort. "I don't have time for this! Give it back you useless prankster!"

Jack cackled mischievously, not stopping for one second, which didn't surprise Hiccup as he knew that Jack was quite of an athlete. Hiccup, on the other hand, was far from one and it wasn't long until he was breathless. But Hiccup had inherited one innate trait from his Viking ancestors and that was obstinacy. It was mostly more of a problem than an advantage, but hell, he would get that piece of paper this time, no matter what, even if he would probably collapse of exhaustion before that ever happened. But it certainly didn't help with throngs of students in the corridors, who only shot weird glances and stares at them. They weren't surprised over Jack and his pranks; however, they were flabbergasted to see Hiccup as the victim of these pranks, as it hadn't happened in the last two years. Some even stopped their activities in order to watch the new fascinating event.

Jack meandered among the students with ease, slipping by several narrow openings while Hiccup continued to accidentally crash into students. This was probably the worst time for a race as it was near eight o'clock. Thus, the corridors were filled with students, preparing for their first class. "Sorry!" Hiccup continued to apologize frequently as he crashed into new people and their things, making paper and things fly over the entire place. "This isn't funny anymore Jack!" Jack just had the 'decency' to laugh at his frustration, ineptness and clumsiness, which fortified Hiccup's indignation and obstinacy. How Jack managed to observe Hiccup and run with grace simultaneously would forever be an enigma to Hiccup.

"Oh C'mon! Just- Just give me the damn paper Jack!" He managed to shout in his breathless condition. But Jack ignored his demands, making a sharp turn at a corner which caught Hiccup completely off guard as he had focused on going straightforward. Thus he glided onward a few meters before he could turn to the other corridor, almost crashing into the wall.

"Agh!" Hiccup cried with aghast when his gaze traveled upwards, as he wasn't prepared for the tall teenager to emerge in front of him, leaning peacefully against the wall with a smug grin on his lips. Oh what Hiccup would do to smack that face, but he was too exhausted after the long sprint. Therefore Hiccup could only plant his hands on his knees while he struggled for his breath. "I will hunt you down if you start running again." He cautioned.

Jack laughed at him. "What's the matter dragon boy? Out of breath already? That was just the warm-up."

"Oh no no." Hiccup waggled a finger at him as a reprimand. "Don't even joke about that."

Jack threw him a lopsided grin, his eyes twinkling of mischief and laughter. "Aw, and here I thought I was doing you a favor. Look, you're in your first class and on time as well." He gestured towards the door, tapping faintly on the wooden material and giving Hiccup his best expression of faked innocence.

"What?" Hiccup frowned as he observed the door's number. He was right, his first class was supposed to occur in this room. "W-Wha-why-?" He looked befuddled at the snow-haired boy. That entire schedule prank was actually benign? Hiccup was confused beyond recognition.

Jack shrugged as he smacked the paper on Hiccup's chest. "See you at Chemistry." He saluted before he strolled away. Hiccup just stood there completely frozen, staring at the departing boy for several seconds until he regained consciousness.

"This isn't over, you know! I will have my retaliation!" Hiccup shouted._ Hiccup, what have you done, don't fuel the bullying prankster's mischievous side. This won't end well._

"Oh I'm counting on it!" The white-haired boy responded before he blew a kiss towards Hiccup's direction.

Hiccup's cheeks heated at the gesture. "He doesn't have any decency or boundaries at all." He mumbled to himself, before heading into the classroom.

* * *

Chemistry, it was usually an interesting subject, where you could learn about the structure of the world. But Hiccup could only feel anxious and restless at the moment. Jack had been really excited for their common classes, which was completely incomprehensible. They had been in the same classes for two years, why the sudden change now? Although, Jack was the definition of excitement; he always seemed to be excited and joyful, so perhaps it wasn't anything special. But what really worried Hiccup was that Jack had used 'class together' and 'blowing up things' in the same sentence. _Did Jack plan to explode him?!_ One simply didn't explode things in chemistry, not in high school, unless if it was intentional or if an incredible clumsy person was doing the experiments.

The room contained only a few students when Hiccup entered the class. _Now where is the best spot for hiding?_ Hiccup contemplated as he scanned and calculated the room. Perhaps one would easily bypass him if he sat in the corner, behind those girls who stared at him. _Yeah, that's probably the best, non-riveting place._

The girls looked at him weirdly, wondering why he took the seat behind them of all the other options. Hiccup avoided their awkward glances by preparing his desk with school supplies. He rather endured the awkward silence and glances than putting himself in the front as usual, because that would totally say to Jack; _Hey, I'm voluntarily offering myself as a victim for your upcoming pranks and games. What are we playing? Exploding Hiccup?_ He snorted at the thought.

One after the other student filled the seats in the lecture room; they all glanced excitedly at the desks that were decorated with flasks, tubes and other equipment for the next lesson. While all the students were busy guessing the next experiment, Hiccup inwardly cheered as the back seats were filled by students and since he was a short individual, one would find it difficult to notice or distinguish him from the crowd.

Speaking of the devil, the probing eyes that belonged to a certain person peeked from the door, observing the room. Hiccup huddled as much as he could, sticking himself to the wall. _I'm invisible, I'm invisible. I'm one with the wall. I AM the wall. _Hiccup chanted in his head, closing his eyes in the process.

"I almost thought you had run away." A figure took the seat beside Hiccup; it wasn't hard to guess who. "Not that I would know why you would want to run away, especially since you were the one who wanted vengeance."

_You got to be kidding me_. Hiccup threw his hands up in surrender; these past two days had been unbelievable. This was too bizarre to be reality. He discreetly pinched his arm to wake himself up from this irrational dream. Nope, he was unfortunately still here.

"Also, who wants to run away from me when I'm all about fun times?"

"So far you have been nothing more than a nuisance." Hiccup said dryly. "And don't you worry; I'm just waiting for the perfect moment for my revenge."

"Oh? Should I be worried?"

Hiccup nodded eagerly. "I definitely would if I were you."

Jack snickered and widened his eyes, slightly quivering his hands in the air beside his head as a gesture of fear and formed his mouth into a large _O_. Hiccup fought the smile that tugged at his lips, but that act evaporated quickly when he saw a few girls and guys staring at them, shooting bizarre glances. Probably because they didn't know why Jack Frost would be chatting with an outcast, especially with the most awkward of them all, it broke the social norms. But also probably because Jack had never attempted to even utter a word to Hiccup until this day, even less direct his attention towards Hiccup.

Hiccup squirmed under the other people's judging gazes, as he didn't like the feeling of being evaluated by other people. It made him feel more self-conscious and awkward than normal, even his hands had begun to fidget with the hem of his shirt.

"You know, your friends are located on the other side of the room." He spluttered, because it didn't make any sense why Jack was sitting next to him when he had his other friends in the classroom. He wanted some answers.

"Yeah?" Jack supplied meekly.

Hiccup raised one of his eyebrows. "You don't need to sit next to me in order to spy on me. I swear I won't tell the wall about your secret." He said as he jabbed the wall in a mocking gesture.

Jack shrugged and gave him a toothy grin. "I told you that we would have a bonding moment and I'm holding my end of the bargain."

"Is that what this is all about? The challenge?"

"Maybe. Or perhaps I'm just sitting here because I want to?" Jack placed his elbow on the desk and positioned his head in the palm, leaning his upper body against the desk while he plastered a smug and bold expression on his face. "You seem to be an interesting guy; I think I'm going to keep you."

A blush bloomed across Hiccup's freckled cheeks and unable to answer in a comprehensible language; he rapidly turned his visage to the notepad on his desk. _Who even say such a thing? Going to keep me? What the hell?_ "Did you ever think about what I want? I have feelings too you know." He muttered.

"Oh, I did and I concluded that your life would become much more fun with me in it."

Hiccup arched his eyebrows. "Did you now?"

"Yep, and your life changing stage begins now. Because it looks like we will be partners for the next two weeks." Jack gestured towards the whiteboard. "Howdy partner." He saluted and gave the boy a cheeky wave.

"What?" Hiccup's head snapped up, abruptly stopping the movement of his pen to shift his attention to the scribbles on the whiteboard and the rest of the text that was being scrawled by the teacher.

_You will all pair with the person to your side, only two-two pairs are allowed, if one row cannot be evenly paired, then search for another uneven row. This partner will be your continuous partner for the next two weeks. These approaching weeks will contain a lot of task-oriented experiments and each one will contain a paper with a task to solve. At the end of these weeks, all of you will deliver a report of these tasks, which will be graded and affect your final grade in this course. _

Hiccup turned his head slowly to the side and showed Jack a face of horror. "No."

"Oh yes." Jack made a gesture of victory, grinning at the boy who still had a ghastly expression. "Oh C'mon, I'm not that bad."

"You explode things."

"I was only kidding before; I've just done that like _one_ time."

"More like ten." Hiccup corrected.

Jack waved dismissively. "Details, details."

Jack had honestly been downright jolly to be paired with Hiccup, as he knew that the auburn-haired boy was very keen and sharp, which would certainly help him raise his grades. In normal scenarios, he would be paired with his friends and to be honest, they weren't the best at chemistry. His friends in this class were apt at many things, but not chemistry. Alas, many of the experiments ended in a fiasco, such as an explosion. Perhaps he had been the cause of those detonations, but not all of them, _really._ Thus, he didn't blame Hiccup for being incredible worried about his grades, but he would definitely show that he wasn't just a mischievous teenager, only about fifty percent, more or less. But even he had future plans like any other teenager; therefore he needed rather decent grades. And mind you, he wasn't as daft as others might reckon; on the contrary, he was an intelligent boy with restlessness issues. How else would he be able to pull all those incredible and clever pranks? There obviously had to be a brilliant mind behind them. And who wants to voluntarily sit for hours in one place? Reading boring things? Where was the logic in that?

The brunette tracked the other male's movements throughout the entire lesson, only to discover that the snow-haired boy used the correct chemicals and followed the instructions adequately. Hiccup only knew the naughty and popular side of Jack, since those were the most prominent traits during school activities, lessons and general events. Hence, Hiccup was immensely flabbergasted when the experiment continued with ease, because the other male appeared to be quite apt in this area, fetching the accurate instruments and filling the tubes with the precise chemical amount in each step. He definitely didn't see that coming. His body had prepared for a sudden explosion, injures or critical wounds, but when none of those occurred, a slight quantity of hope was filled in his veins. Perhaps he would pass this experiment assignment after all. Hiccup was even more surprised when they were the first to finish the first task, getting them a few minutes to work on their report before the lesson ended.

"Perhaps we could work on the report after school?" Jack suggested before they both had to depart to their next lessons.

"Yeah, yeah I guess. Unless, Um-" Hiccup looked awkwardly at the empty air. "If you don't want me to finish it myself."

Jack frowned. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm not letting you do unnecessary work, Hic."

Hiccup didn't know if he should be relieved or terrified of spending more time with the younger teenager, as he wasn't really experienced with group work, even if it had gone pretty well with Jack in Chemistry. Most people just allocated the assignment to Hiccup while they spent their time on funnier activities. Hiccup didn't usually mind, because that meant he would have full control of the assignment's quality and content, but a tiny bit of him thought it was incredibly unfair.

As Hiccup had momentarily dozed off in his thoughts, Jack took the opportunity to sneak his hands to Hiccup's pockets, immediately waking up and making Hiccup see red flags. "W-wha-" Jack snatched the cell phone from the trousers while Hiccup's cheeks heated. "Hey! That's my property you know!" Hiccup protested as he followed the hands of the thief, but the snow-haired boy spun around, letting his back face Hiccup and he repeated this act whenever the brunette's hands came too close to the phone.

"Chill. I'm just giving you my number and taking yours. In case something suddenly comes up, otherwise, meet me on the park bench near the place where you first saw you-know-what." Jack typed zealously on the phone, memorizing the number once he located the correct one.

"You know, there are these wonderful buildings with lots of shelves with books, they are called libraries. People work on homework in them, did you know that?" Hiccup demonstrated and shaped a library with his hands, smiling teasingly.

"I know that, you sarcastic little shit. But I tend to like the snow and outdoors more." Jack returned the smile before he placed the phone in its real owner's hands.

Hiccup snorted. "I haven't noticed."

"See you on the bench." Jack rubbed the brunette's hair, much to Hiccup's aversion and words of protests, before he pranced down the corridor, intertwining his hands before he placed them on his own head at the back and smiled to himself. This was going to be an interesting last year.

Hiccup flickered through his contacts to find the new number to Jack's phone, frowning at the nickname once he had found it.

"Sex-bomb?" Hiccup said to himself. "Really Jack, really?!" He shouted, only to get a loud laughter in the distance as a response. However, Hiccup didn't change the hypocorism.

* * *

This place was filled with reminiscences of the past; each part was connected to a repressed memory that tried to permeate through Hiccup's thick barricades and walls, but he swatted them away with one hand. Minor puffs of breath escaped from the brunette's plump lips, transforming into small clouds of mists before the water particles blended with the wintery environment and the chilly air. So much joy had occurred in this place, only to have it wiped away and covered by disastrous events, leaving a trace of sorrow. A sorrow that was still lingering in the air, as it wasn't something that was forgotten easily. But now there was another memory attached to this place, which added a magical atmosphere in the gloomy forest.

"Why so gloom, sugarplum?"

Hiccup scowled at the hypocorism. "I'm starting to already regret this."

"Ouch. That hurts. Don't you like endearments?"

"What gave you that impression, _sex-bomb_?"

"You know what." He shot a smug and bold toothy grin towards the teenager. "I could actually get really used to that nickname, especially if you are the one using it."

Hiccup snorted. "Alright, _now_, I'm really regretting this." He altered his focus to the group assignment which was placed in this lap, trying to desperately change the subject. "So, we still have four more questions to answer."

"You're breaking my heart here Hiccy."

Hiccup sighed. "Are we doing the assignment or what?"

"Fine, fine. Continue, buzzkill."

Passengers observed how the two teenagers conversed and discussed enthusiastically, sometimes acquiescing on certain facts and quarreling with other parts, but they never came to the point when they became frustrated and infuriated with each other. Hiccup could hardly believe how easy it was to talk to Jack, even if they had only known each other for about one day. Probably because Jack was a social butterfly, he knew how to socialize with awkward and scrawny little kids like Hiccup. He wished it was just as easy to talk to Astrid, but unfortunately, it wasn't.

"So, I was thinking about how the chemicals-"

Jack whined. "Man, cannot we just take a break? We've like three weeks to finish this, there is no hurry, you work-manic."

"Excuse me for being effective. But alright then sir, you will be the one to face the consequences if we don't finish this in time." He admonished.

"Relax won't you. Deadlines are overrated anyway." Jack responded, inspecting the environment of unwanted people before he began to play with his magical powers, conjuring snowflakes and strings of frost. Completely forgetting the previous subject, Hiccup could only observe the scene with fascination. It still felt like he was in a dream with Jack as the protagonist.

"Have you always been able to do-" Hiccup gestured at Jack's hands.

"This?" Jack emitted some frost from his hands, although the floral pattern was quickly shattered by the wind and the remains traveled with the movement of the gust. "Pretty much as long as I can remember." He stated, following the traces of frost with his eyes.

"Shouldn't you be at Hogwarts or something?"

Jack smiled inwardly at the boy's nerdy side. "Nah, they banned me after one year of sheer mischiefs." He said with a solemn face, but it altered rapidly into a cheeky smirk when he observed the teenager. Hiccup wore a face of shock and bafflement, as if he actually believed in Jack's midwife tale. "I'm kidding! Geez, you will believe just anything. No, there is no such thing as Hogwarts. At least I don't think so."

Hiccup appeared fairly disappointed at that fact. "But there are others like you?"

"Yeah, well, at least my family. Otherwise I don't know." Jack shrugged. "I've never really met others with the same abilities, but I guess they veil their abilities from the society as well."

Hiccup hummed. "That sort of surprise me; since people like you could probably rule the world."

"Yep, especially me, I would be one awesome King." A smug grin plastered across his lips as he waggled his eyebrows.

Hiccup tsk'd. "The world wouldn't last more than three days."

Jack snickered and ignored that insulting comment as he continued. "However, I think ordinary people could easily overpower us by numbers. We aren't exactly immortals. Shot us with a gun and we will die just like any other human." Jack shaped his hand into a gun before he put it to his head and acted as if he killed himself with a real gun, releasing a loud pop from his mouth.

"Can't you just freeze people to death before that even happens?"

"I'm not that powerful." Jack confessed, shaking his head. "And why would I want that? Pranks? Sure. Killing people? Nah. That's just not my thing." He made a grimace of distaste.

"That's reassuring." Hiccup muttered, looking at the serene forest. Even the winter birds were singing in the tall pines. "Still, those powers are quite badass."

"And useful." Jack created a ball of snow in his hands, throwing it up and down in his right hand, looking intently at Hiccup.

Hiccup frowned at the comment before he rotated his head to peek at Jack, watching at the snowball and the mischievous grin on the snow-haired boy. Various conclusions swished in front of his eyes. "No." He said seriously, narrowing his eyes and pointing with a finger of reprimand at Jack. "No, don't you dare."

"Dare is my middle name." He cackled slightly through his wide, toothy grin.

"I will use my raw Viking-ness on you sir if you even-" Hiccup stopped abruptly as he felt his cell phone buzzing wildly in his pants and there was only one person who would be calling him. Hiccup sighed, it was already time.

"It's my dad, which is my cue to go home."

Jack dropped his snowball and observed his wristwatch, to later send Hiccup a face of bewilderment. "But's it's only five o'clock!"

"Well, my dad becomes worried when I'm not at home after school, as I'm usually not outside on weekdays. It has become a habit."

Jack shook his head in disbelief. "Just tell your dad that you will come home later today, because of this new awesome and funny guy in your life."

"That doesn't sound gay at all." He deadpanned. "Also, I've homework, essays and other reports to work on." Hiccup added as he rose from the bench, brushing away the snow on his trousers.

"Aw, C'mon. One needs some fun and leisure time as well." Jack whined, dramatically leaning on the bench.

"Ever heard of holidays?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Goodbye, Jack." Hiccup interrupted and grinned at the melodramatic teen. "See you later I guess?" He uttered in a very insecure voice, awkwardly eyeing the other boy before he shifted his gaze to the forest again, as he was worried about the answer.

_He's just too cute for his own good_. Jack thought and smiled. "Yeah, and Hiccup?" He quickly rose from his seat.

"Yes?"

Before Hiccup could fully face the taller boy, Jack arms slid around the boy's waist and pulled him into a tight hug. His white hair tickled the side of Hiccup's cheek as Jack placed his head on the other male's shoulder. Hiccup's body and brain froze at the action, his mouth was slightly agape because of the unexpected situation and his arms spread out awkwardly in the air as he didn't know what to do with them. "You're an awesome person."

Hiccup blushed furiously at the compliment; it felt as if his whole body was hotter than a boiling kettle when his skin touched the nippy air. However, it was even weirder that his body made these kinds of twists and somersaults in his stomach. "Mm, awkwardness, love it. I should probably walk away before this becomes even more uncomfortable and touchy-feeling." He spluttered, as he only knew of one way to deal with embarrassing situations, sarcasm.

Jack chuckled. "It just felt like you haven't heard that much. Bye kid." He released the kid out of his misery, although, that blush told him that he probably liked it as well.

"Yeah, bye." Hiccup waved quickly before he strolled home in an incredible haste, using his cold hands to cover his cheeks.

* * *

**To be continued!**

**Again sorry for grammar mistakes and such! I'm also trying to expand my vocabulary, so if I use a word in the wrong moment, do tell. Love you guys!**


	3. Great, I think I'm turning bisexual

**Again, thank you everyone! It really means a lot to my insecure heart to hear your compliments and comments! 3**

**Btw, regarding the person who wanted me to send an email to you when this story has been updated. (And other folks with the same request) I couldn't see your e-mail in the comment for some reason, sorry! D: However, I'm a pretty busy person so it might be better to create an account on this site and follow the story since I tend to forget things when I'm busy (the site automatically sends you an email when your followed stories have been updated) But if a bunch of people want the same thing, then I'll try to figure out something! For further questions and such, it is better to ask in my askbox on tumblr, my tumblr name is yowzie (I'm more active there)  
**

* * *

The days went faster after he had befriended the snow-haired and mischievous teenager, nothing that he would officially admit to Jack, other people or himself for that matter. Because frankly, Jack didn't need more boost to his self-confidence or he would probably implode with cheerfulness and confidence. Or well, Hiccup wasn't completely certain about that fact, as he didn't know the boy very well. But that wasn't as worrying as the present dilemma. He had actually become attached to Jack. A detail he dearly tried to deny, but it became more difficult as the snow-haired boy stuck to Hiccup's side and forced smiles on his face. No matter how hard Hiccup tried to escape from his clutches, Jack was always right on his heels.

Although in Hiccup's little world, this was all just a challenge to Jack. And thus nothing emotional about it, just another game Jack was eager to win in order to smack that victory in Hiccup's face. Various deductions and conclusions formed in his head, because if the present statement was accurate, then it meant that Jack would leave him alone if he admitted defeat. On the other hand, if he didn't promulgate defeat, then Jack would probably continue to harass him. He was completely ambivalent, because the annoyance was beginning to transform into amusement, which was a dangerous transformation. It would make it harder to recover from a potential petite, or immense, heartbreak. But even if he picked the second option, then he knew that Jack would eventually get bored of him, based on past experiences. Perhaps it was better to shatter the game or attachment, before the bond had grown too strong for Hiccup's emotional heart. But his heart sank on the fact that Jack probably only kept him around to keep an eye on him, because who would really want to befriend him. He tried to ignore the growing lump in his throat and ache around his chest.

Hiccup was so distracted by these worrying thoughts that he didn't even notice when Jack invaded his personal bubble, talking and prancing around the brunette.

"Hey hey." Jack snapped his fingers in front of the short male, growing irritated at being ignored for once.

Hiccup flinched and became suddenly aware of the external world. "W-what?"

"Have you heard a word of what I said?"

Hiccup looked sheepishly at him, as if he had just notified Jack's presence, which was correct. "Um- Yeah, definitely-" Jack raised an eyebrow of disbelief. "No."

Jack threw a suspicious eye on Hiccup, but he didn't dwell on it further as he didn't want to probe on Hiccup's private life unless the brunette wanted to share his thoughts.

"I asked, where are you heading for lunch?"

"Ah- well, I don't have lunch really." Hiccup rubbed his right arm awkwardly while he turned to the passageway that led to the outside. "So uhm, see you later I guess?" He added before he began to walk away.

Jack grabbed the hem of the brunette's green sweater and dragged the teen back to him before the brunette could trot his merry way. "Hang on. Don't tell me you are on a diet or something?"

Hiccup snorted. "Yeah, obviously because I've way too much fat on my beefy and awfully muscular arms." He demonstrated his 'beefy' muscles by flexing his slender arms, grabbing one of his almost non-existing abs. He could almost create a circle around his biceps with his thumb and index finger, which Jack snickered at. "Nah, I just like to be outside, eating sandwiches and drawing instead of being in that crowded canteen."

Jack looked at the teenager as if he didn't quite believe him and his expression was actually somber for once when he raised his eyebrows slightly. "Sandwiches? Really?"

Hiccup shrugged. "It's enough of nutriment."

"Obviously not since you are so short." Jack beckoned to the teen.

"Hardy har har, you are hilarious." Hiccup said dryly. "It has mostly to do with genes, smartass."

"Nah, I think it has to do with those sandwiches. They might contain a substance that makes you shrink." Jack smirked at the scowling brunette, who just continued to glare at him with a dry look. "C'mon, one real meal cannot hurt in that crowded place. I will introduce you to some other folks that I think you might like."

Hiccup was contemplating this for several seconds, his eyes a bit foggy and distant as his focus lay in his thoughts.

"Please?" Jack added in a desperate attempt to get Hiccup to join him and his escapades.

"I don't know Jack-"Hiccup flailed his arms in the air, looking away with a pained expression as he wasn't ready to face the canteen, probably never, but Jack made him want to at least try.

"Do I've to steal something again in order for you to follow me?"

Hiccup narrowed his eyes. "Has anyone told you that you are a very obtrusive person?"

"Eh, might have occurred once or twice." Jack shrugged nonchalantly, because he sensed the humor in it as the brunette's lips quirked almost into a smile and therefore Jack didn't feel very offended by the statement. Also, he knew that he could be a bit obtrusive in certain moments when he really wanted something.

Hiccup sighed in defeat, looking at the teenagers who were gathering outside the canteen, which was at the end of the long corridor. His stomach twisted in a revolting way while he observed the crowd. "But seriously Jack, I'm just an awkward and scrawny little kid, I'm not kidding when I say that I'm socially inept. I don't know how to socialize and people tend to dislike my guts." There was more to it, but it wasn't something he wanted to share with other people.

"You aren't as bad as you describe yourself. I like you, don't I?"

"You've known me for a few days and you're probably crazy too, so that doesn't count."

"Don't be such a pessimist, it will be fun!"

"But they are-" He paused in order to find an adequate word, slightly biting on his lower lip. "Popular."

"So?"

"So, outcasts and popular teens don't mix well."

Jack cocked an eyebrow. "Says who?"

"The social laws of high school."

The white-haired teenager shrugged. "I've never been much for rules." Jack grabbed the wrist of the older boy and tugged the light-weighted body. And lord, Hiccup really had no flesh on his bones. Jack wouldn't need to put much effort to be able to actually drag or carry the teenager, if he wanted to. "Now C'mon before I'm dragging you across the entire corridor."

Jack didn't bother to wait for an answer as he guided them both towards the canteen with light feet, practically levitating through the corridor with a hasty pace. Hiccup sighed in defeat; a small smile covered the previous bothered face, because maybe it wouldn't be so atrocious if Jack was around.

"Alright, alright." Hiccup tried to withdraw his hand from Jack's grip, but the snow-haired boy would have none of it, because he didn't want his captive to have the opportunity to flee in the last second. Blushing at the act, Hiccup scowled at the boy with a red face and a fiercely pumping heart, because they would receive a lot of weird glances with this sort of position, but Jack only smirked at his anxious face. That bastard.

However, the light and humorous atmosphere evaporated when they entered the canteen, which was already full of students, sitting in groups and talking loudly. The mere volume in the room caused Hiccup to yearn for his place of serenity, enough that he considered fleeing from this situation. And the place didn't become much better when he observed a group of teenagers who sat near the food-serving counters, Snotlout and his friends. It didn't take more than a few seconds before Snotlout had spotted the brunette, snickering at him and hitting his left palm with his right fist. The gesture filled Hiccup's body full of dread and he spun his head around towards the snow-haired boy, who was still thankfully oblivious of the mocking teenagers, as he had his attention elsewhere.

He had known that this had been a terrible idea from the start, because Snotlout would do nothing more than to bully and pester them, even if Jack was around him. And for some reason, he didn't want to be humiliated in front of Jack, because in some way that would actually pain him more than being bullied alone. A punch in the face was nothing compared to displaying his true image as a bullied outcast.

"You know, I think I'll capitulate." Snotlout sent him a smug smirk. "Yeah, I'll definitely do that. Thanks for the sightseeing, but I think I will just -" He babbled, sounding bewildered when he took a few steps back towards the exit and the sweet freedom.

Jack's eyes narrowed, seeing right through the lad's nonsensical words that splurged from the brunette's lips. He knew something was erroneous when Hiccup commenced to stammer and babble.

"Alright, who are you trying to avoid?" He scanned the room for threats and suspicious people. The scrutiny was quite intimidating, as people avoided Jack's gaze when he analyzed them.

"N-No one! Just- all the seats seem to be already taken so-" Hiccup began to gesture furiously, trying to conduct Jack's attention towards him, otherwise he would definitely discover the mocking teenagers. To be honest, he didn't want to know what Jack would do if he located them and their insults. He would probably make the situation worse in some sort of way.

"You stammer when you are lying." Blood rushed to his cheeks. Hiccup opened and closed his mouth, completely embarrassed over the fact that someone had observed him so stringent that the same person could see through his body language and manners. He didn't dare to utter another word, in case he would stammer even more and Jack's chuckling didn't help the case. "Don't worry dragon boy, I will protect you from the big bad wolves, my little damsel in distress." Jack threw an arm over Hiccup's shoulders, trying to hide him from prying and insulting eyes.

"My hero." Hiccup muttered, cursing his goddamn blood and goddamn cheeks. But to his astonishment, Snotlout let him pass without a fuss. _Huh._ Perhaps Jack had some influence on everyone in this school, or Snotlout was just waiting for the perfect opportunity.

In any case, Hiccup gathered quickly food on a tray, hurrying the process while he kept an eye on the gang behind them. At the end of the queue, he inwardly praised himself as he had probably been the fastest kid in the world to gather food in a canteen. Now he could quickly rush past Snotlout without getting caught. But as he spun his head around, he wanted to slap a palm on his face because Jack was chatting and probably flirting with some girls. _Now?! Of all times?! Why do the gods hate me!_ All the work for nothing, but as if Jack had mind-reading abilities, he craned his neck to meet Hiccup's viridian eyes, smiling before he skipped away from the crowd of girls. The females shouted after him, but Jack paid no heed as he approached Hiccup, sending the girl a response of seeing them later.

"I almost thought you had teleported yourself."

"I would if I could." Hiccup mumbled.

"C'mon, it isn't that bad. We're almost at the table where I want to introduce you to some peps." Jack beckoned to a table further away, near one of the walls, which was occupied by colorful and flamboyant teenagers. Hiccup was befuddled to see so many different colors in one place.

"Guys, I would like you to introduce Henry. Henry, this is Anna, Nicholas and Samuel, also called for Tooth, North and Sandy. It's not just you Vikings who have weird nicknames." Jack presented as he sat down at the table, gesturing and shifting his eyes from the brunette to the other people.

"Uhm, Hi." Hiccup waved meekly while he took a seat beside Jack, mostly because he didn't have the guts to sit on the other side with the strangers yet. "It's Hiccup if you want to continue the charming nickname trend."

"Nice to meet you Hiccup." The most colorful of them all greeted him with a sincere and warm smile, apparently her name was Anna, but her plain name didn't give her any justice to her gorgeous clothes or appearance. Blue, green and yellow hues were shimmering in the dim setting, the same hues and shadows as a male peacock, creating an enthralling and mystical aura around Anna. Neat, smooth and chestnut hair stroked the girl's arms all the way down to the elbows as her prominent purple eyes were fixed on Hiccup. She was probably one of the most beautiful women Hiccup had ever encountered, beside Astrid, or not really, but love does wonders on people's appearances.

"Any friend of Jack is a friend of ours too." A male with a thick Russian accent grabbed one of Hiccup's hands, shaking it vigorously, almost as if it was an attempt to rip off his hand. North had the same snow-white hair as Jack, but it was a bit longer as it reached to his shoulders. Hiccup began to wonder if there was some sort of new colorful and odd fashion trend in the run, because they distinguished themselves very well from the other teenagers in the room. But they didn't get any snarky looks or insults, rather the opposite, people seemed to swoon and appreciate their non-normative style. Even the quiet, golden boy received a lot of warm glances. _What the hell?_

"Sandy is mute because of an operation on his throat, so don't be offended if he doesn't answer your questions via speech. He makes these weird symbols with his hands instead." Jack explained as he pointed to the golden boy. However, Sandy also pointed at Jack before he subsequently hit a fist into his secondary hand's palm, obviously as a playful reprimand, but Hiccup didn't know that fact and looked befuddled at Jack.

"It's called sign language Jack."

"Symbols, signs, all the same in my eyes." He waved dismissively.

"Who is the newcomer?" Inquired a new voice from behind their backs with an Australian accent and it wasn't long before the new person was sitting on the opposite side of Jack.

"Aaah, if it isn't the joyful Bunnymund." Jack greeted with a high-pitched voice and opened his arms, making them stick out in the direction of the new person as if he tried to offer a hug, but his eyes glimmered of mischief rather than happiness as his voice indicated.

"Jack." Bunnymund greeted coldly.

Jack shot the man a wide toothy grin. "How does that tail feel?"

Bunnymund narrowed his eyes at the boy.

"Oh, rack off, you bloody show-pony. You think you're so smart, just you wait, I'm goin' to cut that waxy hair on your head one day and then you won't be laughin' so much anymore when you are bald." The man with dark-blue hair jabbed his fork in Jack's direction, a very menacingly gesture if you would ask Hiccup.

"Oh yeah? I would like to see you try, cotton-tail." Jack cooed.

"Ooh, you don't want to challenge me, mate."

Glares and narrowed glances were exchanged between the two boys.

"Tail?" Hiccup asked in confusion and in an attempt to break the tense atmosphere between the males as well.

Bunnymund turned to the newcomer. "Can ya' believe this bloke? He bloody glued a rabbit tail on my strides with superglue, which means I won't be able to take it off unless I want to ruin my pants." Bunnymund turned around in order to demonstrate the prank and there was indeed a cotton tail glued to his pants in the middle of his bum. Hiccup had to bite the inside of his cheeks to not guffaw at the scene, because he was pretty sure that the man would choke him to death or kill him with his mere death glares. But it looked ludicrous with a cute fluffy tail on a very muscular and virile man.

"Aw, the cute little _wabbit_ is mad." Jack babied his voice. "Here I thought it was a thoughtful gesture, you always wanted a bunny. Now you're a bunny."

"Yea', such kindness."

The two adults, actually pretty childish, males continued to bicker and slap insults in each other's face. A gesture Hiccup didn't know how to interpret so he just frowned at their comebacks and manners. The others around the table sighed heavily at the two lads, making Hiccup turn his head towards them, sending them a questioning look.

"I thought you were Jack's friends?" Hiccup asked with caution and insecurity, because Jack hadn't done nothing more than to bicker with them from the moment they joined the table.

North laughed heartily as he eyed the two bickering boys before he leaned closer to Hiccup, cupping a hand on the side of his mouth to muffle his sound volume as he whispered. "Oh, we are, don't you mind those two, that's how they show their love to each other." He winked at the brunette. "But don't say that to them or you will be their next victim."

Hiccup smiled at that, showing his teeth to the prying world, which he had to regret quickly as Tooth observed his teeth with extreme curiosity.

"Such lovely little teeth! That gap between your incisors is so adorable!" Tooth squeaked, trying to inhibit her urge to touch and probe the inside of the short male's mouth.

Hiccup became instantly self-conscious over his teeth and covered his mouth with a hand, because there was no way that was cute. He was well aware of the ugly and the abnormal gap between his teeth. There was only a matter of time before he would receive braces to fix that problem. He looked befuddled at the excited lady, still not believing what he had just heard. Perhaps the girl was just mocking him. "W-what?"

Of course, this was the moment when Jack decided to join the dominant conversation, wriggling an arm around Hiccup's shoulders and neck to press him against Jack's side, almost as if he tried to protect the brunette from the scary lady on the other side of the table.

"Hey hey, don't scare away the newcomer, Tooth." Jack mocked.

"Sorry, force of habit." Tooth shrugged and raised her hands in the air along with the gesture, smiling meekly at the Hiccup.

"Don't worry, she just wants to really become a dentist in the future because of her incredible, obsessive adoration for teeth, hence she might stare creepily at your teeth sometimes." Jack said close to Hiccup's ear and puffed warm air on his skin, sending electric shocks to Hiccup's poor heart and stomach. The brunette observed his body, as if he checked for a seizure or some other kind of weird attack. Or his body protested against Jack's intruding presence. He wasn't used to friends, nor touches after all.

"It's not that creepy." Tooth defended.

"Yes, it is." Everyone at the table chorused, even Sandy nodded furiously in agreement.

"I do it for your own good, I warn you for the early signs of cavities. Healthy teeth care is important."

Hiccup found himself actually enjoying their company, as they appeared to be a bunch full of warm and funny individuals. It was quite easy to continue a conversation with any of them, except Sandy of course, because Hiccup unfortunately didn't know sign language. But Sandy tried to use other more obvious symbols in a vain attempt to get Hiccup to understand his sentences, although, they usually made the brunet even more confused. Interpretation was not one of Hiccup's strong sides, but it led to several outbursts of laughter when he misinterpreted Sandy, so he didn't exactly mind, nor did anyone else. Despite the bickering, brawny appearances and handsome looks, they were a bunch of warm and amiable people. Hiccup could never have guessed that in the past, because he used to have a lot of prejudices regarding popular people, as he all labeled them as douchebags. He was pleasantly surprised, yet gloomy after the revelation, because he didn't know if he could still hang out with these persons once the challenge had ended or when Jack decided to hang with other people. Was he still welcome here when Jack wasn't around him? A rock hit the bottom of his stomach, but he ignored it as he continued to enjoy the company of his new acquaintances.

* * *

Hiccup and Jack were waiting for the next lesson on a wooden bench in one of the dismal corridors, making small talks and chuckling at each other's jokes or sarcasm. Hiccup found it harder to ignore the other teenager's questions and social nature, because he wasn't as atrocious as he had thought from the beginning. Despite Jack's playful and mischievous nature, he was a very gentle and compassionate soul who just wanted to spread happiness and joy among people. He never really tried to prank anyone at the expense of someone's humiliation and dignity, no; he wanted everyone to enjoy the show. Of course, there were a few exceptions when he pranked on bullies and nasty people on the behalf of the innocent victims.

Although, the relaxing atmosphere shattered when Hiccup saw Astrid saunter down the corridors towards their location. In most cases, he would only shift his focus on something else to fight the blush and the tingling feeling on the inside of his stomach as she passed by. But not today.

"Hey Astrid!" Jack exclaimed suddenly and waved to the blonde girl, beckoning to her to join them.

Hiccup internally groaned of despair, Jack just had to stop that girl and make her stand almost in front of him.

Astrid threw a bored look at Jack, chewing on her bubblegum as if she didn't have a care in the world.

"What do you want, snowflake?" She asked coolly before she turned her head towards Hiccup, smiling amiably at him, which was _weird_. "And hi Hiccup."

It took a few seconds for Hiccup's brain to digest the fact that Astrid had actually greeted him for once and he stared at her in shock until reality slapped his face.

"Um, H-hi-i." He stuttered and looked down at his notepad to hide his upcoming blush. He really tried to sound cool and relaxed, but that was as always shattered by his ineptness in social skills. Besides, Astrid had never paid any attention to him during the past two years, so of course he would be astonished and unprepared when she suddenly got the decency to do so!

"Is your gang of amazon females coming to the party tonight?"

Astrid rolled her eyes. "They're football players Jack, football, not amazons. And do you even need to ask? You will be there so of course they will be there too, why?" She narrowed her eyes in suspicion and crossed her arms over her chest, looking carefully at the white-haired boy as she tilted her head slightly to the right.

"Well, North and Bunny are busy, so-"Jack extended the last word. "I need a ride to the house." He admitted, hoping that Astrid would feel kind enough today to offer him a ride. Maybe if he played the mopey and puppy-eyes expression, then perhaps she would go all soft-hearted on him.

"You could always put those skinny legs to work." Astrid smirked and pointed to the indeed very thin legs. She honestly didn't know how Jack could have such a virtuous condition and stamina when he barely had any muscles on those bones.

"Funny. There is _no way_ I'm going five kilometers for a party. Ride or you have to be the one to deliver the news of my absence to your football _friends_." He responded with a grin, because he knew how much Astrid despised to bring bad news to her female football friends, especially when it was about Jack. He was very well aware that most of the girls in the area were head over heels for him, thus, most of them complained and whined whenever he didn't arrive at an activity. A thing that Astrid deeply and utterly despised. He was astounded that Astrid still hung out with those kinds of girls, when she was the complete opposite. The blond female would probably feel more satisfied to fraternize with people who liked video games, adventure and camping.

"You are such a pain in the-"Astrid glared nastily at the boy. "Ugh, fine. We will pick you up at five." She waved her hand dismissively.

"Thanks, sweetheart." Jack smiled sincerely at her.

"Say that again and I'll break your arm." Astrid admonished as she pointed a finger at Jack and narrowed her eyes, continuing her way while she did these gestures until she was out of their sight.

Hiccup had tracked the movements of the blond female in the corner of his eyes, trying to be discreet and sneaky about it. But nothing seemed to escape the eyes of the magical teenager as he had observed the gestures and actions of the brunette.

"Oh." A wide grin spread across Jack's features. "I see how it is."

Hiccup spun his head around and blushed. He knew he had been caught, however, that didn't stop him from trying to deny his affections for the girl.

"What?" He tried to appear nonchalant by drawing in his notepad.

"You like her."

"W-who? A-Astrid?" The heat spread across his cheeks as he tried to sound uninterested and casual over the subject. "Well, I guess she is a nice girl." He shrugged, it wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't exactly the entire truth either.

"No, you _like_ like her." Jack elaborated, his smirk getting wider when he observed the flush spread to the tips of Hiccup's ears.

"I-I do not!" Hiccup spluttered and denied the sheer fact, shaking his head furiously.

Jack laughed at the incredible flustered teenager. "You totally do! Your stammering says it all!" He poked the brunet's shoulder.

Hiccup muttered something incomprehensible or something in another language, because Jack couldn't decipher the sentence. An incredible red hue covered Hiccup's entire face and ear-tips, which was one of the cutest things Jack had seen in a long time.

"Have you tried to ask her out?"

Hiccup frowned, sending a whimsical look at Jack. "Why would I?"

"Because you want to go out with her?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "That's doesn't really matter. She would reject me the moment I uttered my first word." He drew the lines a bit harsher and firmer than routinely as he spoke the sentence.

"How can you know that when you haven't even asked her out?"

"Because, hello." Hiccup gestured towards his entire body. "And also because she has already rejected about half of the male population in this school. I've no chance." He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and he had to explain such an obvious answer to a toddler. Because it was very apparent in his opinion, just look at him. He was scrawny, awkward, not really good-looking, short and not very virile as he had the appearance of a kid. Who would ever want to desire someone like him? The closest thing he had ever received as a compliment was cute, and to be honest, that wasn't really a compliment to him. The cute term was for kids, not teenage boys.

Jack smacked the back of Hiccup's head.

"Ow- what was that for-"

"You really need to stop with that extremely low self-esteem." Hiccup grumbled to that statement as he rubbed the back of his head. "You are not like the rest of the male population."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow at the lad. "Thank you for summing that up." He said sarcastically and faked a lopsided smile.

"I meant that in a good way." Jack grinned while he rolled his eyes and continued the subject to Hiccup's displeasure. "You have a lot of good qualities which others lack, so just go and get her, lover boy." The snow-haired boy placed his elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands, tilting his head towards the brunette.

"Ha, no. I rather keep the little confidence I got left instead of getting it crushed completely into nothingness, thank you."

"_Coward_." Jack mouthed in an overdramatic way, trying to rile up the poor teenager with self-esteem problems. But then an idea popped into his head and he snapped his fingers. "What if I helped you out?"

Hiccup looked confused at the lad, knitting his eyebrows together. "What?"

"I could help you seduce her or help you build up your courage to ask her out." Jack grew a toothy grin on his lips, because he could actually help the teen. If the brunette couldn't ask her out himself, then Jack could always do some matchmaking and 'accidents' to bring the two youths together. He wasn't an expert in this area, but he knew enough to help the short male.

"Oh no, no no. Not a chance. Just no, that's a_ terrible_ idea. The prankster of the school and matchmaking? That combination practically smells of disaster." Hiccup flailed his arms in the air as a gesture of a very big _no._

Jack smirked. "I think it's a great idea! I can pull my strings, sweep my magical fingers and sprinkle some magical matchmaking dust on your heads." He said as he whisked his hands in the air, pretending to spread some magical love dust in the area.

"That might work for you, but that's because of your face."

Jack scoffed. "I got other fine qualities too, mind you."

"I've failed to see them." Hiccup grinned at the offended teenager.

Jack narrowed his eyes. "Ooh, you are going to eat that up, _shrimp_."

"Ooh, so will you if you continue to be a love guru, _snowflake_. So drop those matchmaking plans." He countered against Jack's empty threats and narrowed his eyes in a playful manner, because honestly, he knew that Jack was just lightheartedly saying things that he didn't really mean in the end. Thus, he was never really intimidated by him, rather amused if anything. The one who actually managed to rile up Jack would get Hiccup's kudos.

Jack shook his head as he smiled. "Nah, this will be too much of fun."

"No, I'm warning you Jack. Do something and you won't be alive for much longer." The brunette informed, trying to sound grave, but anyone could probably see through it his fake surface. Ignoring his failed attempt to create a grave facade, he rose from the spot and headed to the door that had just been unlocked by their teacher.

"Oh come on-"Jack threw his hands in the air and followed the brunette.

"Don't you have someone else to pester around?" Hiccup scowled when he saw that Jack was approaching him until he was abreast with him. It didn't matter how many zigzag routes he strode, the other was right on his heels after a while and he had no choice but to take a seat as the lecture would soon begin.

"Aw, don't be like that Hiccy."Jack whined playfully as he took a seat next to Hiccup. The brunette tried to ignore him, but not for long, as Jack was jabbing his shoulder.

"Go away cupid." Hiccup glared at him, biting the inside of his cheeks to control his budding smile while he swatted away Jack's hand from his shoulder.

Jack smirked. "I prefer the term mischievous fun and temporary love god."

"A soon to be dead god."

Jack threw a hand in the air as a gesture of surrender. "Alright, fine. I won't fiddle with your love life. But you should tell her." He told Hiccup sincerely, suddenly having a very solemn expression on his visage.

Hiccup grunted. "Yeah yeah. Maybe one day." He turned his gaze towards the teacher and the whiteboard, but his attention was located elsewhere as he was thinking about the outcome if he ever asked Astrid out. Rough conclusion; she would probably reject him so harshly and crush his almost non-existent self-esteem so hard that he would be tied to the bed for several days. Perhaps cry some manly tears and eat chocolate until his self-esteem had recovered from the traumatizing event. Nope, he wasn't going there, like ever.

* * *

Hiccup was enjoying a frisk walk in the park, which was very refreshing after a very long day at school and he found it incredible relaxing to merely breathe in the crisp yet cold air. The day hadn't really been stressful per se, in fact, it had been a very fun day with all the new acquaintances and events, but the long and dull lessons impoverished his cognitive ability. Even he needed a break from the weary voices of the teachers and the somewhat tedious books, thus a bed would be quite lovely at the moment for the poor brunette. Although, he knew that he would be forced to study the moment he entered his house and he would probably not get a peaceful second with his dad in the house, unless he was at work. Hence, he enjoyed the tranquility while it lasted, which would apparently not last for long.

"Why, hello, mysterious stranger. Do you come here often?"

Hiccup turned his head to the owner of the jolly and sardonic voice, who had managed to sneak up on the brunette with prodigious talent until he was abreast with the short man, happily skipping beside the teen. However, this didn't bother Hiccup, not at all. Instead, his heart skipped a beat when he observed the snow-haired boy and he tried to stop the smile that tugged at his lips.

"I'm starting to think that you don't have any other friends or that you've killed them all with your pranks." Hiccup fought the smile by teasing the younger male, which probably hadn't been the best strategy as the smile grew instead into a full-fledged smirk.

"Hey hey, for your information, I've tons of friends. Unlike you, I like to be social and friendly." Jack pointed a finger of reprimand at Hiccup, playfully jabbing it in the air towards the teen.

"Oh yeah, then why have you only been prancing around me for the past days?" He asked dryly while his eyes beamed with amusement.

Jack shrugged and kept quiet, strolling and looking ahead instead of the teen, as if he was trying to avoid the conversation and the true answer.

"I mean, the ridiculous challenge doesn't stop you from interacting with other people or sending lackeys to spy on me. Hence, you must be crazy if you stick to the sarcastic and awkward kid. A normal person with friends would stick to more-" Hiccup hummed and rummaged for the accurate word. "Friendly people, I guess."

Jack tilted his head in order to glance in the brunette's green eyes, smirking at him, which immediately sent a flush to Hiccup's face. "I'm not a normal person, kid. I thought you knew that by now."

"Unfortunately, all too well." Hiccup grumbled, trying to hide his blush behind the collar of his shirt by straightening it up and hunching his shoulders.

"And I don't know, it's just-"Jack shifted his gaze to the kids in the park, contemplating while he heard the kids' laughter and the lenient footsteps of the brunette. He had a hard time putting words on his feelings without sounding way too tacky or cheesy. No matter how hard he tried to find a suitable sentence, then his useless brain wasn't able to finish that quest for some odd reason. "Argh." He threw dramatically his hands in the air in frustration, causing Hiccup to frown at the weird behavior. "I guess it's nice to finally have someone who knows about my secret. Someone you don't need to pretend to, someone to somewhat discuss it with, you know?" He admitted in the end, focusing on the ground as he uttered the truth. Because damn, did he sound cheesy.

"Eh." Hiccup shrugged. "That's what your family is for."

Jack's head perked up, looking incredulously at the smiling auburn-haired boy. "You are such a little shit, do you know that?" He meandered his arms around Hiccup's waist, pulling him against his chest before he travelled his hands over the torso of the short man, trying to find the sweet spot of revenge. Hiccup erupted with laughter when Jack touched the stomach of the brunette, because he was incredibly ticklish around that area and Jack only smirked at the revelation. "Here I open my heart to you and try to make you all pity-partying with me, but nooo-"Jack stirred his hands even more furiously around the stomach, tickling the male beyond cruelty.

"Stop!" Hiccup gasped for air, trying to contain his violent laughter and worm his way out of the horrible situation. His arms and legs flailed all over the place as he tried to push away from the taller male with his elbows and hands. But Jack was one strong motherfucker, keeping his captive in his arms without any real fight. "Alright stop! I give up!" Hiccup managed to shout in-between his seizures of laughter and squirming, unable to withstand the torture anymore.

"It's 'Oh please fabulous and kind Jack, I surrender to your awesomeness.' To you, kid" Jack cooed menacingly, smirking and exhaling in Hiccup's right ear.

"That's just too cheesy-" There was no chance that he would humiliate himself by uttering such a ludicrous sentence, he would rather die with honor, or well, as much honor you could get by getting tickled to death. The hands of the white-haired boy sneaked under the brunette's shirt, getting better access to the most ticklish areas, completely crumbling the last walls of the shorter male. He had to give up, both because of the tickling, but also because Jack's hands were sending strange shots of unwanted desire when they touched his skin. "Alright, fine! Ah P-please." He laughed horribly when those hands traced the outline of his belly button. _Oh god._ His brain stopped functioning at that part, at least the rational fragment. His skin and blood was basically on fire. A fire that was travelling southwards, which caused red warning lights to flash furiously inside his head. "Please fabulous and kind Jack, I surrender to your awesomeness! I surrender!" That sounded humiliating even in Hiccup's ears, but he couldn't cope with those cold hands around his stomach, his muscles ached awfully from all the tickling and his skin felt way too hot.

"I guess that's a good start." Jack raised his hands and stepped away from the teenager, releasing the poor captive from his cruel clutches and observing the new entrancing expression on Hiccup's visage. The brunette's face burned with an incredible pretty red hue, it couldn't even be compared to the beauty of a fire, and Hiccup panted heavily as he grasped his knees for support, slightly bending forward. Jack admired his piece of work with pride, stroking his chin with his right hand while the other grasped the right arm's elbow. For some reason, he really loved to cause a blush to the brunette's face; it made him feel pleased on so many levels.

"You-" Hiccup pointed to Jack, letting out a gasp before he could continue. "You are a cruel man."

"Me?" Jack laid a hand over his heart, sending an innocent and unfairly accused expression. "No no, you deserved that one. Don't you blame this on me."

Hiccup tried to shoot his nastiest glare at the tall boy, but even Jack could see through the teenager's fake scowl, making them both end up with a smile on their lips. "Alright, I'm sorry. You can be all pity-partying and everything. If you ever need someone to- Er, y-you know-"Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck, looking away from the other's gaze. "Talk to, I mean, I don't really mind."

Heat travelled to Jack's heart after he had heard that statement and he couldn't help but to smile sincerely at the boy.

"Aw, sweet cheeks. That warms my little mischievous heart."

"Well, I know how hard it can be to be-"He paused, not knowing how much he could say without sounding lonely and pathetic. "Well, alone. So yeah, I can understand how nice it can be to find someone to share things with. It can be rough and lonely on your own." Hiccup raised his back to straighten it and began to continue his stroll across the park with Jack on his heels. "Everyone needs a supportive hand sometimes, I guess." He tried to shrug nonchalantly, even if he was quite honest about this part, which was a bit unnatural and rare for his sarcastic nature as he didn't tend to really open up to other people in that way. He could tell the truth in a sarcastic way, making everyone believe that he wasn't serious about it, but this way was entirely new even to him.

"You are really too precious." Jack muttered under his breath and looked warmly at the brown-haired lad.

"What did you say?" Hiccup frowned and tilted his head.

Jack shook his head. "I said how prominent your cheeks are, old ladies must love them." Jack skipped in front of the brunette, grabbing and pinching the round cheeks of the boy.

"Pervert hands off, mister." Hiccup swatted the hands away from his freckled cheeks, glaring at snow-haired boy. Jack only laughed at the gesture. It made him almost want to repeat the action to be able to observe the cute response again.

"You know the feeling is mutual right? If anyone bugs you or if there is anything on your chest, then don't hesitate to speak to me. I will prank your bullies' asses to death."

"Thanks." He smiled meekly at the tall boy, shifting his glance from the ground to the taller lad's ice-blue eyes. "So what, am I your friend? Is that the reason behind the stalking? That's some weird way to show friendship." He really hoped that his sarcasm veiled his insecurity, although he really wanted to know if he had actually managed to acquire a friend after all these years of solitude. The idea was intriguing and exhilarating, but at the same time, he didn't want to build up false hopes in case this was actually all about the challenge and keeping an eye on him.

"I thought that was pretty obvious." Jack said seriously and frowned at the ridiculous question. "I obviously 'stalk' you because I like your company, not because of any challenge or whatever that's going on in your mind. Deal with it."

Jack patted the brunette's back, smiling at him before he rotated his wristwatch to check the time. And indeed, it was time for Astrid and her gang to pick him up.

"I've to make myself ready for the pick-up or Astrid will beat my ass, for real." Jack shuddered, imagining Astrid sour face if he would be late. Hiccup laughed at the sight. "See you tomorrow, kid."

Hiccup waved goodbye while the white-haired boy strolled towards one of the exits of the park. Jack had only managed to walk a few meters when he heard the other male's masculine voice again.

"And hey Jack!"

Jack turned quizzically around to face Hiccup, but he didn't get a good look before a snowball hit his face with an unbelievable force and speed. Snow covered his entire face from the hair roots to the chin, slowly sliding down. Jack just stood there in shock with a gaping mouth and flabbergasted expression, completely taken aback by the action as he swept off the snow from his eyes.

Hiccup roared with laughter. "Oh man, your face. I wish I had a camera." He said as he doubled over with laughter, holding his stomach tightly because it ached even more than it had from the tickling. Jack, on the other hand, was not amused, which one could conclude by just observing his firm face. He narrowed his eyes at the laughing boy and his mouth dipped downwards. Although, that evaporated quickly when a string of frost emitted from his fingers and a mischievous grin grew on his face.

The shorter boy wiped away a few tears of joy. "That was the best-" Hiccup didn't get to finish that sentence before a blast of snow and frost hit his chest, causing him to stumble backwards and fall into a pile of snow. He shrieked to the sudden cold and snow that covered his entire body, except his legs, which stuck out from the pile in a comical way.

Jack cackled at the sight. "Now that's what I call funny." The wriggling movements from the auburn-haired male's legs fueled Jack's glee. Hiccup erupted from the snow pile with a loud gasp, prompting Jack to sprint towards the boy and created snowballs in his hands on the way. And when he was just in reach of the other's face, he smacked the snow into the shorter male's face and rubbed it on Hiccup's skin.

"Jack!" Hiccup squeaked, spitting out the snow from his mouth and brushing off the snow from his face to be able to see anything.

Jack threw his hands up in the air in victory.

"That's why you don't mess with the king of-"Jack began before the auburn-haired male grabbed the hem of Jack's shirt and tugged him forward, causing him to land face-first on the pile of snow. Hiccup only guffawed at Jack's awestruck face and splutter of incoherent words.

"Why you little shit." Jack laughed as he wrestled with the cheeky little boy, trying to bury the boy even deeper in the snow, but Hiccup wasn't as weak as he appeared to be because he managed to maneuver them until he was on top of Jack. The snow-haired boy found himself frozen in the act, for some reason, he just wanted to observe the view of the other male while he was underneath the boy. It was a very unfamiliar feeling for Jack and he didn't really know what to conclude of it.

"That was for the scheme earlier." Hiccup explained, panting cute little puffs of air from his pink and plump lips into the cold atmosphere. "And it's not fair when you use magic. It's basically the same as cheating."

"Oh yeah?" Jack took Hiccup with surprise when he quickly shifted their positions, pinning the brunette's wrists to the cold and snowy ground. The brunette tried to struggle and shift their position, but he then realized that a pair of legs were gripping his waist, making him unable to move from the spot. "What are you going to do about it?" Jack spoke mischievously above Hiccup as he leaned forward, getting closer to the smaller boy's face until he literally could feel the heat of the other's boy breath as it touched his skin and facial attributes.

Hiccup could feel his heart in his throat. It was thumping loudly and fiercely as he glanced into those incredible blue eyes. The brunette blushed at the new position as the snow-haired teenager stared reciprocally into his eyes, his stomach twisted more violent than when he had ridden the highest and most terrifying roller coaster of them all. It was petrifying, but he was still reluctant to move away from the situation, because it was just as exhilarating as terrifying. He had frozen on the spot and he was almost unable to breathe when the distance between closed. He didn't even know if it was him or Jack that tried to close the gap between them, but he was too enthralled to even care. A few more centimeters and those soft pink lips would be -

"Hey Jack! It's time!" A few girls cooed from the street, looking curiously at the two entangled boys in the snow and wondering what they were doing. Jack sighed in disappointment; he didn't even know why, because he usually liked to head towards parties and activities. But not this time as he would rather spend time with Hiccup, for some reason, that seemed more fun than the other things.

"I've to go." Jack said. "Don't miss me too much." He smirked at the disheveled and flushed male underneath him, raising himself from the pile of snow and shaking off the residual snow-flakes from his clothes before he hurried to the females.

"Don't count on it; I'll be a relieved and happy man when you are gone!" Hiccup shouted at the departing person after he had recovered from the petrifying event, but the snow-haired boy only turned his head to mouth mutely the word '_Sure_' to the frustrated teenager.

Hiccup flopped down on the blanket of snow again, rubbing his face with both of his hands as he groaned and sighed heavily in the quiet area. He already began to miss the other person when the atmosphere of solitude and serenity surrounded his senses. God, what was wrong with him? He usually liked solitude, but now when the snow-haired teenager had dug his way into Hiccup's heart, he found himself thinking of Jack, more than necessary, definitely more. And his heart seemed to ache whenever the boy wasn't around his presence. This was insane, absolutely horrible and completely wonderful at the same time. He began to recognize the symptoms of his problem, which was even more distressing and completely fucked up.

"Oh gods. I think I may have turned bisexual." He moaned in despair between his fingers and hands. "Great. That's just great!" It really wasn't. It was one of the most horrible things that could ever happen to him. Because he knew that if he truly had a crush on Jack, then his feelings would never be reciprocal. The odds of Jack being gay and have a crush on Hiccup were near zero percent. It would only end in tragedy and unbearable heartbreak if this condition worsened. Besides, who would ever want to love him?

* * *

**KISS DENIED *Cackles naughtily until I choke on my own spit* **

**Writing accents ain't my thing, srsly. And maybe this story should contain more action, fantasy and a twist regarding Jack's powers. I don't know. It feels like I'm just stuffing as much fluff as possible into this story. Oh well, until next time!**


	4. Jack's idea of fun

**As always, I'm really grateful for all your wonderful reviews!**

* * *

Saturdays were lovely little things; they were the perfect day to sleep in, especially when you had stayed up most of the previous night studying_**.**_ But also because school was over for the week and it wouldn't be an essential part of his life until Monday. One could focus on oneself for once and ignore reality for a few hours. Unless you had homework, then the school had been basically thrown into your house instead, happily ruining your day. But that wasn't the case today, nope, Hiccup was actually unoccupied, or well, he had homework, but he could easily finish them on Sunday. Thus, he pressed the pillow tightly against his body and nuzzled it, trying to fall asleep again before his dad would be running around in the house, repairing various things. Like all the furniture Toothless managed to sabotage in a month. Therefore, it wasn't unusual to wake up to a very intimidating Stoick chasing unfortunate Toothless to exhaustion. But if he was fortunate, then his dad would be doing company work today. And people called Hiccup a work-manic. He snorted at that statement before he sighed with contentment and his mind slipped from consciousness.

That was until a buzzing noise interrupted Hiccup's rare time of harmony, but he chose to ignore it as he shifted side. However, it didn't knock off; the vibration just got more persistent and just when he thought it was over, the vibration began its dance again. Hiccup groaned as he allocated his arm to be the research party for the unnerving object, which had been a small object with a rectangular shape, his phone, which was weird. _Who on earth would call him this early on a Saturday?_ But he was even more quizzical over _whom_ would even call him, as his dad was home and his relatives wouldn't call him at this hour.

Hiccup brought the phone to his groggy eyes, blinking in order to get a sharper glimpse of the display. It was Jack. He frowned at the unexpected caller, but he didn't dwell on it as he was literally too drowsy to even care. Thus, he tried to put the phone against his ear, jabbing his cheeks several times before it arrived to its correct destination.

"'ello?" Hiccup mumbled drowsily.

"Man, did I wake you or something? Who sleeps at this hour?" Jack laughed at the other end.

"Normal people?" Hiccup offered before he released a big yawn. "What d'ya want? I'amma hang up if this isn't important." He grunted as he closed his eyes and buried his head further into the pillow.

"Jesus. You are really tired. I'm going to take this as a note for further investigation and exploitation." Jack chirped mischievously as Hiccup heard a scratching noise at the other end, which was probably fake, at least he hoped it was fake.

"Jack." The brunette reprimanded, but it emanated more like a whine rather than a harsh admonish. Hiccup would have blushed to that error in a normal situation, who knew that sleep-deprivation could be useful in certain moments.

"It's not my fault that you're adorable when you are sleepy." Jack cooed. Never mind the previous statement, Hiccup felt the temperature rise in his cheeks after the comment and it seemed to make the brunette a little less lethargic than before. "I'm just wondering what you're doing today?" The magical boy added.

"Sleeping."

Jack snorted. "Obviously, but what after that?"

"I dunno. S'not like I usually plan my weekends."

"Then come to the park at the usual spot."

Hiccup's eyebrows knitted together, wondering where this conversation was headed, because he was pretty sure that they had finished the first part of the group assignment. "Why? Ar' ya finally going to murder me?"

"Of course, because I love to murder people on Saturday mornings. So hurry up." Jack said sarcastically.

"Nah, I don't feel like dying today."

It became suddenly silent at the other end, prompting Hiccup to reckon that he had said something very wrong or that this was just one of those awkward silences again.

"Do you ever?" Jack asked in a hushed voice, which was a completely new discovery for Hiccup. The lad could actually be grave and worried.

Hiccup snorted. It was quite ridiculous that the snow-haired boy could even think such a preposterous statement about the brunette. Although he wasn't entirely surprised after he had analyzed his previous sentence, because it did indeed sound like he was thinking about continuing his life on the other side on a normal basis. But he didn't think his life was_ that_ bad, even with the frequent bullying and disappointed comments from his family, because a lot of joyful activities compensated for the less happy moments. The world was filled with too much exciting things to leave it. "I like living too much. Do ya' know what I like even more? Sleeping. On weekdays. When no one is supposed to disturb you."

"Really? After all these minutes of talking, I thought the opposite." Jack snickered at the groan he received from the brunette. "But seriously, I thought we could just hang out."

"With me?" Hiccup actually blinked in confusion now. Why would Jack want to hang out with him when he had so many other friends? Didn't he get enough of him during the weekdays? Not that Hiccup personally would mind, unless it would involve awkward silences, because he had encountered enough of them in the past. But it was almost impossible to have awkward silences with the white-haired social butterfly.

"Nah, with the rest of your family except you. Yes with you, numb-nut. Because I also want to show something to you."

"What?"

"You will see if you come. But I'm pretty sure you won't regret it."

With that enigmatic statement, Jack hung up on the other end and Hiccup could only stare at the phone in great befuddlement. He didn't even know when he was supposed to arrive at the park, as Jack hadn't said any specific time, but he shrugged at that absent information before he closed his eyes and fell almost instantly asleep while his phone was still placed in his hand.

* * *

"What do you know! The little morning sunshine managed to creep out of his bed!"

Hiccup yawned loudly as he lumbered forward in the snow-covered field, massaging his eyes in a vain attempt rouse himself from his dozed state. "Yeah, I'm a bag of sunshine alright."

"I can see that." Jack mocked. "I thought you were a morning person."

Hiccup shrugged. "I was trying to finish some homework and I kinda lost track of the time. So I may have headed towards my bed quite late. Really late actually."

Jack shook his head in disbelief. "That's why you split the homework over the entire week so you only have to do it all at once."

"Since when did you become the study expert?"

Jack shrugged. "Your nerdy-ness is contagious."

"Har har." He said imperturbably before he investigated the area after some mistrustful materials or objects, but he found himself empty of any evidence of mischievous events or pranks. He didn't know if he should be relieved or disappointed as he had expected something extraordinary when he had heard the tone of Jack's enigmatic statement in the phone call. The area was actually serene and almost peaceful as he glanced at the unperturbed snow and vegetation, even the birds were chirping happily in the distance. No mischiefs, amazing tricks or mysterious tools in sight. "So are we just going to stand here until I get frostbite on my spleen or are you going to show me the thing you were talking about?"

"That depends." Jack continued with his riddles and enigmatic sentences.

"On-?" The brunette eyed the other teenager suspiciously.

"What do you feel about flying?"

"Uh- I guess it's alright-?" Hiccup retorted and his eyebrows knitted in befuddlement, wondering what flying had to do with anything, as there was no flying machine in the environment. "Why?"

Hiccup didn't have any time to contemplate the wide ear to ear grin that had spread across the snow-haired teenager's face before he felt the ground disappear underneath his feet, because a hard body had tackled his body into the air. He yelped loudly as a tingling and fluttery sensation spread within his abdomen in an unpleasant way, especially when the altitude increased with every horrifying second. The auburn-haired boy observed the distant soil in horror. He was flying. Technically, Jack was flying and the snow-haired boy's arms were surrounding his upper body in a tight grip, pushing up the brunette's body so it would follow Jack's way in the sky. Hiccup's eyes widened in fear and he rapidly twisted his body around in Jack's torso, throwing his arms around the taller boy's neck and gripping the other person's waist with his own legs to ensure that he wouldn't fall.

"WHATTHE-" Hiccup shrieked in anguish and shock. "HOW DO YOU-! WHAT-! TAKE ME DOWN!" Griping the clothes of the magical boy even harder, he flatted his face and body against Jack's chest. If this had been a different situation, his face would burn with heat and explode of embarrassment, but this wasn't a time for modesty when his life was in jeopardy.

"Relax, won't you? I will snap in two pieces if you cling to me any harder." Jack snickered at the panicking boy, almost feeling sympathy for the little brunette when he squealed in sheer horror as a blast of wind swayed them slightly off course. The boy surely had a strong grip in life endangering situations, almost choking Jack, even though the magical boy would never let anything harm the little one.

"Hey hey, it's alright. I won't let you fall down." Jack soothed in a gentle voice.

"I'm sorry if I'm not in my most trusting mode right now! The ground looks very intimidating from this perspective!" Hiccup exclaimed as he glanced over his shoulder with wide eyes at the snowy environment, which was now located several meters below them, before he smashed his cheek against the warm chest again and shut his eyes firmly, trying to forget his surroundings.

Jack sighed, because he didn't want this to come across as an atrocious occasion; on the contrary actually, he had hoped for a different expression.

"Hiccup, look at me."

However, the brunette only clasped his eyelids even tighter, as if he was trying to scowl at the teenager without opening eyes.

"I'm inwardly glaring at you. It should be enough."

Jack smirked. "C'mon, just look at me." Hiccup squeezed his eyes shut and took a few deep breaths, then slowly cracked them open. Panic flared inside the brunette's gut when he observed the ground far below again, but he willed his erratic breathing to even and move his gaze to the snow haired boy before Jack said. "Don't you trust me?"

Hiccup's face scrunched in absurdity, because that was one of the most ridiculous questions he had ever received from the other lad. "Of course I trust the most mischievous prankster in the school. You would probably let me fall to my death and save me at the last moment for your own amusement."

Jack hummed. "That's actually a good idea-" He retorted while his grip around Hiccup's waist slackened a bit.

"NO!" Hiccup gasped in horror and flailed his arms in the air before he clutched the other boy with all his feeble muscles, trembling slightly because of the momentary adrenaline kick that had flared in alarm and prepared him for the fall. Jack only cackled before he tightened the grip around the brunette again, because he had never planned to let go of him in the first place.

"I'm going to kill you for this." The brunette mumbled.

"Nah, you love me too much for that." Jack grinned cheekily as the auburn-haired boy buried his face in the snow-haired boy's shoulder to hide his flushed cheeks. Did he know about Hiccup's mixed feelings for him? Was he that obvious? If he had been on the ground, he would have darted away like a frightened rabbit as he was too afraid to know the answer and too petrified to face his own confusing emotions. But since he didn't have much of a choice at the moment, he could only hold his breath while his heart throbbed painfully in his chest. "But seriously, I wouldn't do that, especially not to you."

And it was a false alarm; the brunette exhaled in relief, or frustration, or both. He really loathed his puzzling emotions as he didn't understand most of them and he really didn't understand what he truly wanted.

"Oh yeah? I'm bursting with reassurance already." Hiccup said sarcastically as his breath heated the snow-haired boy's sapphire hoodie.

"Alright alright-" Jack chuckled. "But I'm really serious. I'm not playing any tricks this time. You are going to be fine, really fine. I promise."

Hiccup lifted his head in order to stare intently into those ice-blue eyes for several seconds, searching for any kind of information in those little iris globes of gorgeous markings until he concluded that he could trust the lad as Jack's eyes were nothing but grave, not even a flicker of mischief. Hiccup narrowed his eyes. "Alright, but I do warn you, if you drop me to a certain hundreds-percent-chance-of-death, I will haunt you as a ghost."

"No drops, got that on your first squeal." Hiccup huffed, wanting to protest that he hadn't, de facto, squealed. His masculine demeanor wouldn't allow such a preposterous thing; at least he tried to persuade himself of this fact. Opening his mouth to protest, Jack took the opportunity to blow a very cold breath on his face. It shocked the brunette for a moment when he felt and saw the cold mist of tiny snowflakes trailing from Jack's mouth to his very own mouth and skin. "I didn't snatch you up here to kill you, you know. I actually thought you would enjoy the view, as much as you draw landscapes and such. Maybe it would fuel your inspiration." Jack elaborated, his eyes large and earnest as they met Hiccup's.

Turning his head, Hiccup observed the scene for the first time without any superfluous fear.

He gaped at the sight. Before him dwelled a wintery landscape that had been directly extracted from a fairy tale, which stretched to the far horizon. The trees stood tall and steady in the snow-covered fields, one could only distinguish a few green parts on the pines. The city itself was not much of a beauty with its gloomy hues and angular shapes, perhaps the few rural houses contributed some more magnificence to the fields that stretched for miles, the same fields that were divided into a numerous of rectangular areas with only the trees as their fence. But the most prominent part of the scene was the environment that surrounded it, especially the mountains and valleys in the far distance with all kinds of blue and white hues, which glittered in the sun. It all produced an enchanting and tranquil atmosphere.

"Wow, that's actually-" Hiccup began flabbergasted, but when he noticed his meekly and non-sarcastic tone, he quickly cleared his throat to conceal his obvious excitement. He didn't want to fuel the other person's glee and smugness after all. "I mean, the scene is adequate and the company is a bit of a disappointment, otherwise it's quite-"

Jack raised an eyebrow at him, clearly not believing a word that was uttered from the brunette's rosy lips.

"Alright, it's pretty amazing. And the company might not be too bad." Hiccup grinned, only to receive a soft smile in return from the snow-haired boy. Not even the cold breeze could disturb their peace while they hovered in the air.

But as Hiccup observed the people walking on the paths of the park, something hit his thoughts and panic escalated inside the brunette when the cogs in his brain started working again.

"Oh gods! Why didn't I think of it before!" Hiccup's eyes shifted quickly between the snow-haired boy's face and the people on the ground. Jack just shot him a confused glance as he frowned at the shorter teenager. "Jack! You're flying!"

Jack tsk'd but his eyes were smiling. "Here I thought you were the smart one between us."

"No! I mean-! You need to get down to the ground, otherwise people will see you up here and then they will definitely capture you, drag you away to a foreign country and experiment on you-!" He babbled in panic with wide troubled eyes, slightly writhing in Jack's chest.

Jack snickered at the other one's exaggerated reaction and he could only shake his head at the brunette's conclusions. Although it warmed his heart that the brunette actually cared about his welfare, this would probably mean that he could cross out his concerns over being reported to an authority by Hiccup's hands. "Calm down Hiccup. No one can see us."

"What do you mean?" Hiccup frowned at him, stilling his overdramatic gestures.

Jack glanced upwards as he shrugged and smiled innocently. "I might have bypassed the information that I can make myself and others I touch invisible."

The brunette raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Then how can I logically see through your and my invisibility-?"

"Because my magic wants you to see my handsome face, obviously."

"Of course, why didn't I think of that." Hiccup said coolly, as if it had been the most obvious thing. But in fact, it was not. There was no logic in that statement, but he assumed there wasn't much logic to begin with when it was about magic, unless one knew the true mechanisms behind the magic.

"Wait a minute-" The brunette sent an accusing look to the other boy. "That's how you sneaked up on me at my locker!" Hiccup would have jabbed Jack's chest if it wasn't for the fact that his arms were required to hold on to the magical boy's neck. He wasn't exactly in the mood to fall down to a certain death just to be able to scold the snow-haired teenager.

Jack threw a wry smirk. "Oh no, someone has discovered my secret!" He announced dramatically, widely opening his mouth to gasp in horror.

"I knew there was something suspicious about that." He stated, before he narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to the right. "Don't tell me you sneak into the girls' PE locker room with that ability too."

"I- what? I do what? No!" Jack spluttered and stammered his sentences while his cheeks altered color to a soft shade of red. "I do have morals you know." He grumbled as he looked away.

Hiccup laughed at the magical boy's rare expression of embarrassment; it was actually quite refreshing to see that Jack had a cute and bashful side as well. He would definitely extract and exploit this side in the future. Also relief and warmth spread through his stomach, knowing that Jack didn't spy on any girls, perhaps because he wasn't that interested in someone? Or just because he wasn't a pervert. Hiccup was really hoping for the first conclusion to be accurate, the second too of course, don't get any funny ideas.

"I should drop you for that." Jack growled at the other one's face, slightly leaning into the brunette's personal bubble, still having flushed cheeks as he threatened the laughing teenager.

"Ah-ah." Hiccup reprimanded. "Remember your promise."

"Still doesn't mean I cannot do this." Jack grinned mischievous before he suddenly swooped down in the air, receiving a satisfying squeal from the auburn-haired teenager.

"NO-!" The brunette screamed at the top of his lungs. "BAD! BAD JACK!" Hiccup shrieked as the surface of the earth approached them with an incredible speed and he had never been more displeased to see the ground. "Cannot you just fly in a straight line, you useless prankster!" And just as it was uttered, everything stilled. They were hovering softly in the air, even more smoothly than before because the wind wasn't as harsh as in their previous higher altitude spot.

Jack cackled while he studied the breathless form in his arms and floated over the city, keeping a relatively straight line. If Hiccup would describe it all, then he would label the gesture as a romantic one, but he was sure that wasn't Jack's original intention. Of course it was terrifying as well, especially when a fierce gust caused them to sway terrible and Hiccup couldn't stop the yelp that escaped from his throat.

"Oops-" Hiccup glared daggers at the taller boy, who only responded with an innocent expression and a shrug. "That wasn't actually my fault, I swear."

Hiccup didn't quite believe that. "Oh? Is there another wizard on the ground who is trying to sabotage your flying magic? Harry Potter-style?"

"Nah, I just have some problems with controlling the wind. Sometimes the wind takes an unexpected turn, which tends to make me lose my control, especially when my mind is focused on something else."

"That must be the most reassuring comment of the year."

Jack smirked. "Don't worry; I quickly regain control after a few meters. And I'm just an average magical boy. It usually takes decades before one can fully control one's abilities, if ever."

Hiccup didn't feel much more reassured after that comment either, on the contrary, he feared for his dear life. But something that concerned him even more at the moment was his shaking arms and legs. They had been clinging to the boy for so long and tightly that all their energy was almost spent and they were about to succumb to reality, it was just a matter of time before they wouldn't be able to grasp the snow-haired boy's body. The cramps were spreading through his body and he was barely unable to withhold his muscles from shaking as it increased each second.

"Uhm- As much as I love this awkward position, then my legs and arms are becoming quite weak and wobbly." Hiccup admitted in the end.

"Yeah, I got to agree with you, that's why I'm heading towards your house since I don't think I will last much longer either."

Hiccup nodded in relief before his eyes widened. "Wait- what? How do you know where I live?"

Jack shrugged. "I happened to see you when I was walking with Astrid and her friends near your quarters."

"I sense stalker warning here."

"You cannot label people as stalkers when they just happened to see someone."

"You can if they just happened to be in the area where they know their special person will show up."

Jack chuckled a bit before his face became completely serious, but there was a glint of amusement in his eyes. "I do not swoon outside of your window in my free time, I swear." Hiccup smirked at the very idea of such a scene and Jack's attempt to keep a stoic expression with such statement, not that he would mind of course, but it just didn't fit Jack's character to stalk and swoon. "Is anyone home in your house?" The white-haired boy asked out of the blue and Hiccup was surprised to already see the front of his house, but he was relieved to observe the ground from such short distance. Not that he hadn't liked Jack's flying trick, on the contrary, but something about the stability of the ground soothed his mind. Although, he would do anything to be able to fly himself in a more controllable manner. He felt free and careless in the open air, not bound to duties and reality like down here on the ground.

"There isn't. But why-" His question was answered by a dramatic movement of Jack's right arm in the air. In a matter of milliseconds; a harsh wind barged against the front door to Hiccup's house, causing the door to open with a loud slam. There was still a trail of snow from Jack's fingertips when the snow-haired boy swooped into the house with Hiccup in his arms, landing gracefully and placing Hiccup in the empty hallway before he created another gust to close the door. The brunette just gaped and looked concerned at the abused door. "Jack! What the he-!"

"Your door is fine." He opened it to demonstrate its good health. "Look, good as new, or well. A few new frost markings, but other than that, completely fine!" The hinge and lock really wanted to protest against that statement, they both screeched loudly as the teenager closed the door with less ferocity than before.

"You could just have dropped me outside."

"Yeah, because a kid who suddenly emerges out from nowhere is not suspicious at all."

"And so isn't a door that just happens to open and close itself?"

"Eh- I would say less suspicious. Besides-" Jack shrugged. "This was really my plan to get into your house."

Hiccup blinked in confusion. "Your- your what?"

"Well, I was bored and curious. So I thought what the hell?"

"All the flying and magic just to get into my house?"

"Yes and it actually worked, tadaa." Jack made a lame gesture of jazz, shaking his hands in the air slightly.

Hiccup stared at him for several seconds, not believing the creature in front of him, because Jack had the strangest ways of doing, well, anything really. How was he even able to exist? "You know, you could have just asked, like you know, a normal human being?"

"What's the fun with that?" Jack threw the brunette a smug grin as he looked around in the new environment, spotting a little black ball of fur that hid behind a doorway. The little creature stuck out from the doorway when it felt the stranger's eyes on it, investigating the newcomer in the house. The black cat observed the taller teenager with great caution as he slowly approached the intimating white-haired boy. "And hey look, who is this little fellow?" Jack huddled on the floor, outstretching a hand to the little fellow and chirping a few sounds to attract the cat.

"That's just Toothless, careful, he might be a bit-"Hiccup didn't get to finish the sentence as the cat bit Jack in the finger and the white-haired lad yelped at the sudden pain. "Toothless!" Hiccup exclaimed in horror, because he knew Toothless could be a little hostile towards strangers, but never like this.

"Oh shit! It's the devil in disguise!" Jack cried and jumped away in horror as the cat began to assault and attack him with fervor. The white-haired boy was completely baffled by the hostility of the docile-looking creature, because animals tended to like him. But this one was chasing him around in the room, hissing loudly in the process. Jack was utterly and completely terrified. "Hiccup! Do something! I'm too awesome to die!" The magical boy yelped before he began to hover above the cat, since it was the only way for him to evade the evil little demon, but it surely didn't stop Toothless from jumping off the ground in a vain attempt to catch the stranger.

Hiccup just guffawed at the spectacular scene and the previous comment, doubling over to grasp his aching stomach because it was incredibly hilarious to see the mighty magical boy being overpowered by a little cat. As if he had completely forgotten his majestic powers or as if he had just forgotten them on purpose to amuse the other boy.

"Down Toothless, he is a friend, alright? Calm down." Hiccup walked over to the cat, stroking his fur in a soothing gesture and trying to convince Toothless that Jack wasn't a burglar or a nasty person. "And how can you be afraid of a cat when you have magical powers?"

"Like I had the time to react before that hell spawn tried to eat me!" He exclaimed in defense, pointing accusingly to the black creature.

"You're exaggerating; he's basically harmless, just a little- well. Protective of me." Toothless purred loudly and stroked his body against Hiccup's legs in confirmation, as if he was the gentlest animal on the planet. But Jack knew better as he glared at the little thing, refusing to touch the ground in case the creature would assault him again.

"A little?!"

Hiccup looked sheepishly at Jack while he shrugged. "Alright a lot. But it is fine now, you can get down, oh you fearless 'too awesome' knight."

"Hey hey, don't mock me." He admonished. "I've to protect this body, because a lot of people would cry to their deaths if this handsome body died, even you." Jack hesitantly lowered himself to the floor, not letting his eyes wander from Toothless until his feet touched the ground. But his muscles and tendons were prepared to jump into the air at any moment.

"I would cry rivers."

"You so would you crybaby." Jack stated before he began to stroll in various directions, investigating the room by poking several decorations and searching after any secrets of the house. "So this is the house of the famous Haddock family?" He said as more of a statement rather than a question before he rotated his head towards the opening to the second floor and dashed up the stairs.

"What-? Jack-?" Hiccup only watched the boy in surprise and shock, because he wasn't familiar with the gesture to just barge into one's home. It didn't exist in the world of the Haddock family as they were taught manners and fraternized with people from high classes. Barging into a home would be classified as very rude and uncivilized, and the Haddock family couldn't afford to lose their respect by rude gestures. "Hey! I think this count as trespassing! You aren't following the rules of civility and adequate etiquette!" He ran after the intrusive boy, wondering what the hell he was up to.

"Relax, friends barge into each other's houses all the time. It comes with the advantages of being a friend." Jack chirped as he opened various doors on the upper floor while he tried to map the place in his head for further investigations, while Hiccup, on the other hand, struggled to keep up with the energetic teenager.

"I'm fairly sure they don't, ah-" The brunette tried to close all the doors, observing if everything was intact as he didn't quite trust the other person's magical powers after the incident with the front door and he didn't want to experience the wrath of his father anytime soon. However, he stopped his action when he saw the next door that was about to be opened. It was his room. _Shit._ Not good. Not good at all. All his crappy sketches and dorky games were stuffed into that room. Not to mention the mess and the scribbles of inventions. "Ah!" He exclaimed, trying to rush to the door before Jack managed to unbolt it. "That room isn't interesting; it's just my dad's office. Boring papers and boring stuff, you don't want to go in there." He tried to sound nonchalant and shook his head, but his tone quickly changed as Jack threw him an unconvinced expression and opened the door, despite the protests of the short teenager. "No wait-!" Hiccup reached out a hand, as if it would stop the act and its consequences.

"Wow." Jack said slowly in absolute awe, just standing still in the doorway for several seconds in order to observe the room. "This is amazing." He rotated his head slowly in the air, in order to get detailed glimpses of the sight. The snow-haired lad walked around the room to get a closer look at some of the drawings that covered most of the room's walls. Jack hadn't seen so many characters, dragons and sketches of landscapes in the same place. "Have you done all of these? _All_ of them?"

"Um- Yeah. I've to spend my free time doing something, so well-" Hiccup a motion with his hands towards his drawings. To be honest, the brunette was quite speechless because he hadn't been prepared to receive such a positive reaction from the magical boy, but that didn't stop the warmth from growing even deeper and wider in his chest.

"Jesus hell. I knew you were talented, but those I've seen in school are nothing compared to these!"

Hiccup shifted awkwardly in his spot. "Most of them are just scribbles."

Jack just gaped at him in horror. "Bullshit! Liar! Masterpieces, that's what they are!"

Hiccup couldn't stop a wide grin from growing on his lips, which actually threatened to split his face in two pieces if it grew any wider. "Thanks."

"Just wow." Jack continued to stroll around. "Are they part of some story or something? Since they got the same style."

"Yeah, they are part of this world with Vikings and dragons, where the protagonist is a scrawny and awkward little teenager who manages to be the first one to befriend and ride a dragon. The night fury as you can see there-" He pointed to some of his drawings while he spoke, showing the world of his imagination. "And then you got all the later riders' dragons, Stormfly, Hookfang- And I'm rambling. Sorry, you can stop my humiliating and boring babbling any minute now."

Jack snickered. "Nah, I like your rambling and I've always liked stories and fairytales, and these-" He jabbed in the direction of the drawings above Hiccup's desk. "Are something extraordinary, so I definitely don't mind knowing more about their world."

Hiccup grinned like a cat that had just lapped milk and he couldn't force down the smile, no matter how hard he tried. But he didn't respond to Jack's compliment, mostly because the compliment had frozen his brain and he was basically drowning in happy emotions. He tried to suppress the giddy feeling in his stomach, but it fluttered and tickled him wildly on the inside of his chest's walls and he scratched his torso self-consciously. His rational part told him to send Jack a response and tell him more about his world, but before he even managed to open his mouth, Jack's attention had slipped from Hiccup's drawings to another part of the room, completely enthralling the snow-haired lad as he skipped hastily forward to the brunette's game collection.

"Aw man, don't tell me you got-!" Jack rummaged through Hiccup's games, gently throwing some of the games to the side to reach his treasure, grinning like an idiot when he finally got his hands on it. "Oh yes! I've always wanted to co-op play this one!" The taller teenager held Resident Evil 6 before Hiccup's face, practically shoving it in his face.

Hiccup threw him a lopsided grin.

"You try to kill me with your flying skills; you barge into my home and demand to play one of my games. Who do you think you are?" The brunette deadpanned.

"The best friend you have ever had in your life. Now C'mon!" Jack rushed to the PS3 on the other side of the room, near the TV screen, and pushed the disc into the game console.

Hiccup could only shake his head. "Fine Fine, Mr. bossy. Just don't slow me down during the game. I'm used to a competent companion." He said as he placed himself on the bed, grabbing one of the controllers on the way.

"Kid. I'll let you know that I'm a professional gamer. I can beat your puny ass any day." Jack didn't know how much he would regret that sentence until three hours later, but none of them cared about this fact; because the only fact that really mattered to them was each other's company.

* * *

**The ending was kinda rushed, I'll probably change it later! Oh and do tell if Hiccup and Jack are becoming a bit too OC. **

**Until next time! Love Jopheil**


	5. The librarian is not amused

**Still loving all your comments, reviews and favs! **

**Kitty.0: I laughed so hard at your comment, but maybe Jack actually meant it that way. Sexual innuendo behind that innocent comment "waggles eyebrows"**

**Momma-Ran: It recently struck me that you guys maybe say cafeteria instead of canteen? (It is really good when people point out things, since I'm not familiar with the entire English world/language) **

**Onwards with the story!**

* * *

In Hiccup's little world, there was nothing better than to draw when one wanted to soothe one's anxious or restless mind. There was something magical about the way ideas managed to become reality with just a few motions of one's own hands. You could create your own little world, where you would be the god of their universe and you could incorporate any character, their course of fate would be determined by your hands. It made you feel a bit proud, omnipotent and excited. Every new character was interesting in your eyes, as you never completely knew their part of the story or its background until the story was finished.

The pen moved across the piece of paper with an elegant movement as it shaped a curvy line, which was the beginning of a new dragon's spine, a Deadly Nadder. It was a beautiful creature with all its aqua and marine blue hues, but one shouldn't be deceived by its appearance, as it was just as lethal as it was beautiful. Its spikes could impale you in a heartbeat and the sharp teeth could rip the meat from your bones with ease. And for some reason, he could imagine Astrid owning a dragon like this. It was quite crazy to envisage such unrealistic facts. Since dragons didn't exist and Astrid had certainly never thought of being a dragon rider, but it sure would suit her.

Hiccup smiled at the drawing, lifting his hand from the paper to get a better view of it. He could barely wait for the moment when he had to color the little beauty, but he had to ink the scales before that could ever happen.

However, even if his imagine universe occupied most of his mind, then he couldn't stop the day's events to permeate through his thoughts. Even if he had already been contemplating and mumbling to the point where he wanted to tear apart his hair. He was frustrated and completely befuddled over the situation. He was mostly confused about the fact that he had similar feelings for Astrid and Jack, or actually, it was a fact he wasn't completely certain of as well. Sure, his heart accelerated when Astrid was near him, but not in the same way as when Jack was around him. Astrid made him feel excited, socially inept and awestruck, but that could be because she wasn't like any other female he had ever encountered, and also it could because he didn't know how to interact with women, hence a nervous reaction would form in his body around the blond woman. Perhaps he only adored Astrid as a role model, like one of those crazy crushes one had on celebrities when one was young. She was everything Hiccup was not. Strong, beautiful and self-confident, any sane male would desire her. But Hiccup just realized that he might just adore and like her, not really love her, he honestly didn't know.

Jack Frost, on the other hand, was something else, something he wasn't able to label or set his finger upon, like a new song that you didn't really know if you enjoyed or not until you frequently repeated it over and over again. He didn't just feel nervous around Jack, his stomach was overloaded with somersaults whenever Jack invaded his personal bubble, which was just as terrifying as exhilarating. It wasn't just adoration; it was almost an obsession, as his entire attention flew to Jack whenever he was close. He knew he sounded incredibly cheesy, but the world seemed a little brighter around him, as if happiness followed Jack's every step. That was the most prominent discrepancy between the two humans he liked, a lot. He was utterly screwed, probably a bit love-struck, or a lot. He honestly didn't know. _God fucking dammit._

How he ever would be able to explain this to his father in the future remained a mystery. But he knew for a fact that Stoick probably would throw tantrums or go berserk, to not only have a lanky, sarcastic and awkward kid, but also a potentially bisexual one. Perhaps even a completely gay, which would probably be too much for his poor father's heart. There was nothing wrong with such outcomes in Hiccup's mind, but for his father? Oh man, he didn't even want to go there. It was all about traditions and customs for the old Viking descendant. And he knew that even the slightest tint of gayness didn't fit into his father's busy schedule.

Hiccup sighed as he positioned his ink pen on the side of his notebook, looking up from the desk where a dozen of other drawings hung, as they were riveted to the wall. He tried to find some answers to his problems in those little doodles, but the drawings only stared back at him without a response, because he was on his own in this adventure, as always. Not even his mighty Night Fury could help him in this quest.

Speaking of the devil, Toothless jumped onto the wooden desk, stroking his head on Hiccup's arm and meowing loudly as it was time for dinner. Despite the furry ball's cute appearance and silky hair, he was an incredible stubborn and determined creature as he wouldn't stop bugging Hiccup until his wishes were achieved. Hiccup really tried to finish the last scales of the Deadly Nadder, but every time his hand approached the paper, Toothless stroked his head on Hiccup's hand, pushing it away from its true destination.

"Toothless!" Hiccup exclaimed, but he was relieved that the cat had done that action before his pen had touched the paper. Toothless only shot him a smug expression, meowing even louder at his owner.

"Fine fine, Mr. bossy. You will get your dinner."

If cats could laugh, then Toothless would be the definition of it at the moment, especially with his incredible smug grin and slithered eyes, basically mocking him. Hiccup could only glare at the cat, but a smile plastered across his lips before he rose from his seat, heading for the door. Hiccup threw one last glance at his autumn-influenced room with light, honey-yellow wallpapers and chestnut colored furniture. His entire room was filled with drawings, inventions and books, because that was Hiccup's definition of heaven. The Night Fury eyed him a last glimpse of comfort before Hiccup shut the door completely to his little haven.

* * *

Jack was bored. Incredible, utterly and completely bored. The boredom was lessened quite a bit due to the company, but he could still literally vomit on his tedious task. And yet, he wouldn't want to swap places with anyone else at the moment. He would rather be bored with Hiccup than most other things, because things didn't last boring with Hiccup in his surroundings.

"Cannot we like, do something else?"

Hiccup sighed as he observed the ceiling in frustration, mumbling something to the gods above, probably cursing Jack. "We didn't finish the assignment in the park, we didn't finish it in the classroom and we didn't finish it yesterday. How will we finish it if we always postpone it?"

"It's practically done; we could just finish it at lunch."

"No, we are finishing this now and then we- I mean _you_ can do whatever you want."

Jack groaned dramatically and it didn't take long before the snow-haired boy began to rip off the edges of some non-scribbled papers in his notepad and crumpled them into small balls before he chucked one of them at Hiccup's face.

Hiccup's skin twitched at the sudden impact with the foreign object. He didn't even know what had collided with his cheek until he shifted his glance to the object lying on the upper side of his notepad and he narrowed his eyes at the owner of the item.

Jack snickered. "Well look at that, I found the true use of my notepad." Discretely ripping off some more paper, he prepared for another launch and smiled innocently in the process.

"So that's how you're going to be, huh?" Hiccup threw him an askew smirk as he reached for the used paper ball.

Jack answered by sending another ball of paper at Hiccup's cheek.

"It's unbelievable how juvenile you are!" Hiccup chortled and lightheartedly scowled while he tossed the two used paper balls at Jack at the same time. The snow-haired lad threw up his arms in the air to protect his beloved head and handsome body. Unfortunately or luckily for Jack, one of the balls missed the target and the other one just hit the taller boy's hair without any real vigor. Jack only guffawed at the other boy's sudden outburst of attacks that tried to punish his deeds.

"Why thank you, that's a compliment in my ears!" Furiously tossing a lot of paper balls towards Hiccup's face.

"Would you just stop?" Hiccup laughed out loud, which completely contradicted to his grave request as he tried to protect himself from the paper balls and throw them back to their master.

"Why don't _you _stop?" Jack challenged back.

The small paper bits flew all across the space between the two playful boys and some of them even struck the bookshelves when one of the boys evaded the other one's attack. Several balls could be spotted on the floor and on the desk, but they didn't exactly mind as they were both too occupied to win the competition. They both laughed at each other's both vain and successful attempts; at some moment Hiccup had accidentally managed to hit the other boy's arm with his hand instead of throwing the paper ball. In fact, they were so engrossed in their own little world that they didn't even notice that the librarian had positioned herself right in front of them. And she was not amused.

The librarian cleared her throat as she glared at the two boys. Hiccup appeared to just realize the situation as he was very familiar with the library's rules and yet he had ignored it like a defiant child. His cheeks flushed red when he observed the furious expression on the older woman. Jack, on the other hand, immediately dropped everything in his hands and pointed at Hiccup as the culprit of the dilemma, as if he had started it, which was _downright_ incorrect. Not believing the nerve of the tall teenager, Hiccup narrowed his eyes at the traitor and said. "Really? You really think she will buy that? When you are the-"

The librarian cleared her throat even louder the second time, sending another heat-wave to Hiccup's poor face.

"Sorry. We didn't mean to be so loud. It won't happen again." Hiccup tried to smile apologetically, as if his red cheeks weren't enough of indicators that he was incredibly remorseful.

"I hope not. A lot of individuals in the library have been complaining about the noises from this location. You will be forced to carry on this dilemma outside the library if you want to continue." She admonished the two defiant teenagers by pointing a finger at the exit.

"Ah- No. No, we are good. I'm so sorry again." Hiccup responded meekly, avoiding her gaze to any cost. It felt like his innocent façade had been completely sullied by this one action as he had never been really reprimanded outside his home.

Both Jack and Hiccup didn't have the courage to utter a word as she strolled away from their spot, slowly shrinking in the distance illusion.

"Man, I thought she would swallow us whole." Suddenly Jack had found his courage again as he managed to say that in his normal voice, which was a bit too loud for Hiccup's preference in this scenario.

"Will you keep it down? I don't want her to return again." Hiccup hissed in a very low voice and eyed the librarian to observe if she had heard the comment, which she hadn't apparently, thank heavens.

"Or do you? You two had quite of a moment there." Jack snatched Hiccup's rubber and positioned it in the direction of the librarian with his right hand.

"No! She will kill us!" Hiccup threw himself on Jack, trying to snatch away the rubber before Jack got the chance to throw it away, but the snow-haired boy had anticipated that move, hence he lifted the little object to the skies as he knew his arms were much longer than the other male's, giving him the upper hand. Jack grinned at the frustrated male who scowled at him. Hiccup on the other hand, still having stubborn issues, tried to reach for the rubber by pulling down and wrestling Jack's arm, even if the laws of physics and biology were against his side. It probably looked quite ridiculous in others' eyes, but Hiccup's rational part was inhibited by his sheer panic that Jack would actually fire that thing towards that dragon in disguise of a librarian. And to his defense, he didn't feel to be burned to death today.

"Give me that rubber!" Hiccup tried to force Jack's torso forward in order to get a better possibility to reach the object, but the snow-haired boy's muscles weren't to be underestimated. Jack snickered at Hiccup's vain attempts to overpower him, although, he had to admit that the brunette wasn't as weak as he appeared to be and Jack's strength in his arms began to subside.

"Over my dead body!" At this moment, the librarian was actually out of their sight and therefore Jack couldn't enrage the poor woman who just followed her orders and rules; however that didn't stop him from keeping the rubber.

A smile quirked on Hiccup's lips and he had a hard time containing his own laughter, especially now when the magical boy's strength diminished to Hiccup's stubbornness and the hand was near the finishing line. Well, that was until _another_ person in front of them coughed.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Both of the boys froze in their positions while they shifted their glances towards the new voice in their presence. It was Astrid, who only frowned at them with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"No, no. We were just- er- well-"Hiccup spluttered and shifted his gaze from the snow-haired teenager to the beautiful blond girl, desperately craving to explain himself, but his intelligence didn't want to cooperate with him. He looked at Jack for help, but the bastard just shrugged with a smirk.

"Whatever, I just need a place to hide at the moment." She waved dismissively before she took a seat on the opposite side of Hiccup.

"Hide from what?" Jack queried, as his tongue and brain seemed to still be in function, but of course they would be, as much as he fraternized with beautiful women and handsome jocks every day. It was only Hiccup who managed to embarrass himself by just being himself. It was great really.

"Snotlout."

"What did you do now?" Jack smirked.

Astrid sent him a blank face, although Hiccup thought he saw a twitch underneath one of her eyes.

"What do you mean me? It is Snotlout we are talking about. He has been stalking me throughout the entire day because of the upcoming Valentine's Day. I swear, if that brain only could understand the word no, then the world would be a much brighter place." She grunted as she glared at the desk with great ferocity.

Both Jack and Hiccup chuckled at that, because it was completely true. They both knew how much Snotlout tried to court Astrid in a not exactly discrete nor successful way. It was quite entertaining to observe the dramatic scene in school as it had always the same outcome. Astrid would yell at him to leave her the hell alone, punch him in a non-lethal way but it would still leave bruises, or she would just ignore him while he declared his undying love for her and how perfect they would be together. In the end Snotlout was left behind with humiliation and a cloud of laughter from the crowd, but that still didn't stop him from trying again. Either he was incredible dumb or just incredible love-struck.

"Why don't you just punch him in the face then? You have no problem to do that to me." Jack suggested, quite fond of the idea because that would be even more hilarious to observe in the halls.

"And be suspended? I won't let my grades be affected because of some pathetic little creep. Neither I, nor my grades have time for this."

"Wait wait, does that mean that Snotlout followed you to the library too?!" Hiccup had finally found his courage to speak and his voice increased its pitch by each second, because he really didn't like the idea of Snotlout being in the same area as him. He had the urge to pick his books and escape the route, but he couldn't do that without looking quite suspicious and there was a risk that he would crash into Snotlout on the way out.

Astrid flailed her hands feverishly at the boy's new high-pitched voice before she put a hand over his mouth in panic and a finger on her own mouth in a gesture to quiet down. "Yes, but he won't find us if you just keep quiet!" She hissed.

Hiccup's eyes widened and the new fleshy part that touched his plump lips caused him to blush furiously. "S-sorry." He apologized when Astrid had retracted her hand.

However, Jack raised his eyebrows and threw Hiccup a suspicious glance.

"Why are you so riled up by Snotlout being in the library?" Jack queried.

Hiccup looked away.

"I'm not riled up. He can be wherever he wants, especially in the library." He mumbled as he continued to write on the assignment.

"I don't blame Hiccup. I try to avoid Snoutlout whenever I get the chance as well. Snotlout buggers anyone who is different or in my case, beautiful." She said sincerely to explain the situation to Jack.

"Thank you for announcing that." Hiccup muttered, if there was something he didn't need, it was to remind Jack what a loser Hiccup truly was. No matter how hard he tried to become like everyone else.

"What?" Astrid said with a confused look. She hadn't said it with ill-intent, because honestly, she thought everyone in this school knew about that fact as Snoutlout liked to bully and show off in the corridors. Hence, the gossip went around very quickly. Who to avoid, who was popular and who was the new weirdo.

Jack hummed and contemplated for a while, but then all the pieces glued together as if it had been the most obvious conclusion and connection of them all. "Is Snoutlout the reason why you don't want to be in the cafeteria?"

"No." Hiccup grunted with as much of a serious expression as he could muster in his face, which was a huge step for him because he tended to stammer when he lied. But Jack saw through the fake stabile wall of calmness and graveness and raised an eyebrow. Hiccup ignored the scrutiny of the other boy for several minutes until it started to gnaw on his senses, in the end his shoulders dropped in defeat and his honest nature begged to be released. "Argh, stop with that look." He admonished with a jab in the air. "Yes, no, maybe? Among other things?"

"Soo- he is bullying you?" Jack continued to interrogate him.

"Nah, I would define it as he just pronounces the truth." Hiccup shrugged. "It's nothing really, nothing I cannot handle anyway." And it was the truth. After all these years of mental bullying, which not only come from Snotlout, he had developed several defense mechanisms such as sarcasm and not taking anything personally. Or just ignore the comments. They didn't really affect him anymore as they had done in the beginning, just in certain moments when he had a really bad day. Besides, in his own opinion, he thought his other quirks compensated everything he was not. And at least he tried to become normal-ish.

Jack opened his mouth to respond, but Astrid hushed at the two boys. "Quiet! He is behind those bookshelves."

Everyone held their breath as they watched Snotlout's chin on the other side of the bookshelves, who seemed to ponder which way Astrid had taken. Not a word or loud gasp was uttered under one minute while they intensively observed Snotlout's movements, which was basically just a few head rotations and uttered curses before he walked away. A loud sigh of relief could be heard from the table of teenagers.

"Thank heavens, that was close." Astrid exhaled air with relief and she didn't seem keen to move anytime soon, instead she gazed at Hiccup. "So, what are you two doing?"

Hiccup looked at Jack for help, as he didn't know if he was supposed to answer that question himself. But Jack only beckoned with his eyes to go for it by shifting his irises quickly from one side to the other.

"Eh- Just the chemistry assignment." Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck, wondering why Astrid was curious about them all of sudden.

"Don't your female football friends miss their bodyguard?" Jack smirked, sounding playful, but the truth was that he just wanted to spend some more alone time with the brunette. This was completely selfish, he knew that fact, since he knew how much the brunette adored and loved the girl in front of them. He resisted throwing a glare at Astrid, who had snatched away his friend's attention.

Astrid, however, looked coolly at Jack and ignored his comment by continuing to converse with Hiccup.

"The third experiment?"

"Actually yeah."

"I'm completely stuck on that one and my brainless partner isn't very helpful either. You don't think you could help me a bit? Just so I get on track."

Hiccup blinked a few times as if he was trying to process the information. _Had Astrid really asked him to teach her something? What in the Thor's name. _

"Uh- Yeah sure. It's quite easy actually. It's just-" And so the conversation continued between the awkward boy and the beautiful athlete from the football team. Jack sighed loudly since his favorite toy had been stolen from his bare hands, but he tried not to dwell on it as he was supposed to be happy for Hiccup's sake, or at least, Jack tried to be happy for him. Hence, he strained to not interfere with their bonding moment, _too much_. But hey, he was a social creature; they couldn't really expect him to ignore them completely.

* * *

To say that Hiccup didn't enjoy the temporary bonding moment with Astrid, would be a lie, but to say that he worshipped it, would be an exaggerated statement. The conversation had gone better than he'd ever imagined in his own brain; a buzzing sensation had rushed through his veins throughout the discussion, so much that he had barely been able to contain his smiles and excitement. He was even more surprised that he had actually managed to have a normal conversation with Astrid without stammering too much, which was probably a miracle. But still, the warm pulsating sensation wasn't as prominent with Astrid as it was with another person in the same presence. He couldn't really explain it, but somehow the emotions he had for Astrid did really differ from the ones he had for Jack.

Hiccup had sent his salutes to Astrid before he had changed his attention to Jack, who had been mysteriously and awfully quiet during the discussion, which wasn't normal in his world. Jack was always the happy, curious and talkative one in the group activities, a fact that only wired Hiccup's concerns for the tall boy. The snow-haired boy had also worn a face of deep contemplates and Hiccup could help but to wonder what thoughts had resulted such a thoughtful expression. Perhaps Jack's thoughts had stuck on Snotlout and his bullying? That conclusion filled him with dread, because he really didn't want Jack to take revenge on Snotlout with pranks, since that would only make the scenario even worse than before.

"And just to be sure that you don't do something stupid." Hiccup began to utter, getting a very prominent frown from Jack. "Don't prank Snoutlout or whatever you are thinking. He is not worth the effort."

Jack rolled his eyes, but grinned. "Don't worry dragon boy. I'm not only about pranks." Hiccup threw him a disbelieving look. "I'm not, mind you. Although, I cannot keep such promise if I ever see him actually bullying you."

"You do know he got no chance against my raw Viking-ness in the first place?"

Jack eyed the brunette from head to toe. "You are a walking Fishbone."

"Hey, I'm a talking Fishbone! There is a difference." Hiccup admonished by pointing his index finger at the tall boy, throwing Jack his most grave expression that his body possessed.

Jack laughed out loud.

"Sure, you can talk him to death." Jack taunted, but he did believe that one could actually scare Snotlout away by talking in abundance. Snotlout would probably be transformed into a crazy person if he couldn't hear his own self-flattery.

Hiccup nodded. "Of course, I only need to spit a few intellectual comments and his brain would basically implode."

Jack snickered at Hiccup's probably accurate statement. Although, his snickering diminished pretty quickly as his mind traveled back to the present dilemma, Hiccup and Astrid. He didn't even know how he felt about the whole situation, as dread was roaming more prominently in his chest. Sure, they would probably make an awesome couple, but Jack still didn't fancy the idea that Hiccup would become more busy, which was doomed to happen if he initiated relationship with Astrid. Jack was very well acquainted with how much a person altered their lifestyle and became distant from friends when they initiated a relationship. And he didn't know if he was ready for such thing when he really liked the boy as his friend. However, he was supposed to be the brunette's love guru and supporter, making Hiccup blissful was his prior quest before his own selfish needs.

"Sooo-" Jack grinned broadly, his eyes basically beaming with curiosity. "How did it feel to get attention from your _special_ girl?"

"Eh, it was alright." He shrugged, but his smile indicated that it was much more than alright. Jack wasn't sure whether he was supposed to feel happy or worried about that fact. "But I believe she would have ignored me if it hadn't been for that assignment."

"Believe me, she could have asked a lot of other people. But the fact that she asked you is a cue that she wanted to spend time with you." The snow-haired boy said sincerely, trying to boost the other one's self-confidence.

"Well, everyone has a hard time resisting all-" The brunette paused while he observed his features with a fake smug expression before he gestured towards his gangly body, flexing his non-existent abs a bit. "-of this."

"I'm basically swooning already." Jack placed a hand to his forehead and pretended to faint a bit for the little lad. But inwardly, he did actually have a hard time resisting to spend time with the witty brunette and his heart sank at the thought of Hiccup being snatched away.

* * *

Unfortunately, Hiccup didn't have any other classes or sessions with Jack during that day, much to his dislike. But the mere day cheered him up, because Fridays only meant one thing for Hiccup, Gobber's workshop. It was his favorite day of the week because it meant that he would visit one of his oldest friends. Actually, he was more of a father figure than a friend, as he had almost always been the one who had taken care of Hiccup when Stoick wasn't around in the city, which had happened a lot in his childhood. Therefore the two males had formed a pretty strong bond with a lot of sarcasm and dry humor, which Hiccup didn't mind. Stoick had become a more prominent person in Hiccup's life after his sixteenth birthday, mostly because the company's headquarters had relocated to Berk, resulting that Gobber didn't really need to babysit the brunette anymore. But that didn't mean that they would just shatter their connection and hence, they had created a special day for just the two of them. If you would ask Gobber, he would just say that he had created this special day because the lad needed to be prepared for reality. But that was just part of the truth.

Now what is it about this special day that makes it so special? Good question with one simple answer; inventions and handiwork. You see, Gobber was probably the most famous craftsman in the city and probably the most talented craftsman in all the cities around Berk as well. He was a very intelligent and innovative man who knew how to craft, metal bend, fix almost any high-technology device, and even create weapons. One didn't simply ask what he could do, because it would take a month to finish that list, one asked what he didn't do. Although, most of the common commissions were about repairing cars or broken mechanical devices, but sometimes Gobber would also receive a commission to create a handcrafted device. This is where Hiccup ambles into the picture, as Hiccup used to stroll into the workshop after his school to help Gobber with all his inventions and commissions. Sometimes they would even work on their own inventions. This had helped Hiccup to become a very skilled craftsman and inventor himself.

Hiccup entered the workshop with a warm smile on his face, searching after the older man in the room that was packed with tools, mental bending equipment and unfinished pieces for future commissions. One could easily distinguish Gobber from the other stuff in the gray room, since he was a very muscular and tall man with usual beige clothing accompanied with a fur vest. The adult with the fair-haired hair and elongated mustache noticed the footsteps from a newcomer and he turned around to scan the new object in the room, covering an unimpressed expression on his face when he concluded it was Hiccup, but he was smiling on the inside at the upcoming teenager.

"Haven't seen you for a while, I almost thought someone had squashed you." The older man stated in a cheerful voice.

"Nice seeing you too Gobber." Hiccup said dryly. "I honestly thought I would get a more heartwarming welcome than this."

"Well, this is as fuzzy I get." Gobber deadpanned before he flamed a meager metal rod with an acetylene torch until the material's resistance was almost nonexistent. "So what have you been up to?"

Hiccup shrugged as he leaned against the door frame. "I've just been busy with school and Jack has absorbed most of my leisure time by pestering me around." His arms gesticulated dramatically in the air along with his sentence, accompanied with a heavy sigh at the end of the sentence.

"Jack?" Gobber shifted his attention to the boy, looking befuddled at him.

"Just a new friend."

"A friend, eh? You are sure he isn't imaginary?"

Hiccup faked a laugh. "Ha ha, I do have a sane side you know." He added as a matter-of-fact.

"Hard to differ from the crazy one."

"Better than being constantly insane." Hiccup countered.

"Careful. I won't be responsible if my metal leg hits you on its own accord." Gobber said as he clonked his prosthetic leg with one of his tools and the sound resonated loudly in the room, as if wanted to show the severity of Gobber's threat. "Put your body and mouth to better use by helping me with these last bits of metal before Stoick drags you home." He beckoned the lad to walk his way to the second workbench.

"Not a risk. He has practically ornamented his company as his true home." Hiccup grunted as he fetched one of the brown aprons on the hooks near the door, putting on safety gloves before he reached his final destination where several unfinished metal rods lay before his eyes.

"Nothing new that one, so what's with the extra sharp tone?"

"He's just-"Hiccup grabbed some of the metal rods to later insert them in the very hot oven and take one of the other metal rods that had reached its proper temperature for metal-bending while he waited for the other ones. "He gave me a summer job at the company without my consent."

"Ah, and I assume you didn't quite like that part?" Gobber didn't actually need to ask that question, because he knew very well that the lad hated the idea of becoming the next heir to the company's chief position. He knew Hiccup's opinions as well as his own after all these years together.

"Nah, I _love_ it when someone allocates me a job I utterly despise_._" Hiccup smashed the metal with extra force along with his hammer at the italicized word in that sentence, trying to straighten the little piece of iron. "I just wish he could just consider my interests, but he just never listens!"

"Runs in the family, believe me, you should have seen his parents. They basically shouted at each other's faces all the time. Aggressive love at its finest." Gobber said while he turned the little metal rod to observe the neat surface and if it had gained the correct form.

"Still, doesn't he want to make me happy too? Like when was the last time he ever asked me about what I wanted? Never! He basically just throws things at my face and expects me to gnaw on it like some contented dog." Hiccup took a breather before he began to imitate the voice of his father in a very gruff tone. "Hey company, I didn't find any adequate person to fill in my spot because I'm so thick-headed, so I present you this scrawny-looking dog to uphold and conduct your company instead!"

Gobber snorted with amusement, but spread a blank expression on his face as he wanted to direct this conversation in a more solemn direction. "He just does it because he believes it will make you happy in the end and prepare you for reality. Every father does. He just does it a bit more-" Gobber jabbed his chin while he searched for the correct word.

"Like a sadist?" Hiccup supplied.

"Prominent." The blond corrected.

Grumbling at that comment without even really responding, Hiccup continued to work on the metal rods, but his entire expression articulated that he wanted to argue against that last remark. A fact that caused Gobber to momentarily stop his working process and sighed, as he had seen that look so many times and he didn't want that one to stick on Hiccup for the rest of the day, or his life for that matter.

"Look, the point is, he does it because he loves you. And the gods know that we, descendants of the Vikings, adore to show tough love. But if you are truly unhappy about this whole company business, he can never truly force you into it."

Hiccup turned his head to throw the older man a coolly expression and raised his eyebrows almost to the top of his forehead.

"Have you seen him? He could snap me in two like a twig if he wanted to."

"But he wouldn't do it, now would he?" Gobber pointed his torch at Hiccup as he raised an eyebrow in response.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Hiccup deadpanned as he walked away from his place in order to leave a few finished metal pieces on the older man's bench.

"You are his only son and he might be a bit thick-headed, but if you show him that you truly want something else, then it will eventually go through." The blond was pleased over the younger man's quick hands; most of the metal rods had been finished in record time, perhaps because the lad canalized all his frustration into those metal bits. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to rile up the brunette while he worked, but Gobber couldn't do that to him. He would never officially admit it, but he did care for the lad. People tend to grow in one's heart after several years of babysitting. "Or well, Hopefully. Otherwise you might have to traditionally chop his head off."

Hiccup's index fingers jabbed the air at the blond as he walked his way back to the smaller workbench in the room. "There is the cheerful and hopeful Gobber that I know."

"Some of my many fine qualities." The blond responded with sarcasm while he gathered all the metal rods and tossed them into a little container full of them.

Hiccup looked back and forth from Gobber's head to his workbench, closing and opening his mouth several times in the comfortable silence before he gathered his courage to ask the one question that was still sensitive to Hiccup's heart.

"Gobber?"

"Yeh?"

"Have you- Uh-" Hiccup took a deep breath, trying to formulate his question in the most professional and non-embarrassing way. "Have you ever been in love?"

Gobber abruptly stopped all of his movements to turn his head around and face Hiccup, raising one eyebrow and growing a very wide grin. Hiccup desperately tried to hide his growing blush from the scrutinizing eyes of the other male. "Uh-huuh. Has the little lad found himself lucky among the females eh? Has your awkward little dance finally attracted a female?"

"Oh ha ha. You're so funny Gobber."

Gobber chuckled. "No need to use that sharp tone on me. I'm just kidding." He smiled as he began to work again. "Is it about that blond girl, Astrid, who you have been talking about? Has the game finally stepped up?"

"Please, she wouldn't date me even if I was the only option in school." Hiccup grunted. "But no. I'm thinking of someone else. Although, I-I'm not sure. I think I might like this other person, but I'm not familiar with love so I cannot really tell. Hence the awkward and uncomfortable conversation with you."

Gobber scratched his chin as he contemplated the mysterious sensations of love. "Well. It is hard to define an emotion that is so individual, not everyone feels the same, you know. But I knew this one girl when I was a young lad, whooh, I was head over heels with her. A real beauty that could knock me over any day. Although, all I can remember was the tickling sensation in my stomach and my thoughts that seemed to always end up on her. Then of course I also had my awkward boners around her presce-"

"A little bit too much information over here."

"Oh come on. You are a lad, you know how it is. No need to be embarrassed with your fellow brother."

The brunette threw an askew grin at the blond. "Oh yeah. Not at all. Nothing awkward about talking about boners with guy friends. It really boosts the good mood."

"Alright alright. Youngsters these days. But I would guess that the most obvious and prominent signs of being in love are tickling sensations, a quick beating heart around the one you like, nervosity, thinking of this person a lot, and happiness that surrounds you whenever you are close to this person. Does it help you define it better?"

Hiccup gulped. It did seem like he was suffering from a bad case of love- sickness after all. Dammit. In some way he had hoped that this was just a case of nervosity, because that would make things much simpler in a world where homosexuality is still frowned upon. "Yeah- Yeah. I guess it does." He said as he avoided the growing curiosity of the other male, because he could literally feel how Gobber's curious vibes tried to pierce through his skull.

"Soooo- Who is your new love interest?" _And there is the one million question._ Hiccup thought snarkily to himself.

"The person is called none-of-your-business."

"What does it hurt to tell old me? No one will believe me and shouldn't I receive some trust after all these years with you?

"It's- It's just embarrassing." The brunette admitted. "And I don't think this person feels the same, nor ever will be, so I don't really see the point of telling anyone."

"You're not that bad Hiccup. In fact, you're probably the most decent person I've met and don't let anyone one else tell you otherwise." Gobber scolded while he jabbed his finger in the air at Hiccup. "And anyone who cannot see that doesn't really deserve your time."

Hiccup smiled weakly at the other person's comments, but it still didn't make him alter his beliefs. He still thought that it was hopeless to think that Jack would ever fall in love with him, mostly because Hiccup was an outcast and not the most good-looking person in school. Although, he assumed that was natural to think after eighteen years of being an outcast; he had also never received a love confession during that time. It did lower your self-esteem quite a bit. He also didn't want to raise false hope, because that would just lead to heartbreak. Not to speak about his prominent male parts. After all, he had never heard any gossip about Jack fancying a boy during all his years in Berk High. But still, that little gnawing feeling of hope poked his heart and brain, because something wanted to believe that there was a reason behind why Jack spent as much time with Hiccup as he presently did. _We just have good chemistry to be good friends, maybe even best friends._ His rational brain tried to butt in and crush the feeling of hope.

"Now, stop moping, I want you to look at this new invention of mine." Gobber added before he slightly hobbled over to another room and Hiccup was right on his heels, curious about the new adventure to Gobber's room of hazardous and sometimes astonishing inventions. He never knew what the middle aged man had in store because there was always something unexpected and new when he arrived at the workshop.

Hiccup entered the other room where all of Gobber's past inventions had been assembled in a neat line against the wall, staring intimidating at him as if they would spit fire on him at any moment. He didn't even know what half of them actually did. The room contained all from improved Segways, malicious motorbikes with spikes for god-knows-what. But he was even more befuddled about the new object that was in front of Gobber, as it appeared to be several bits of metal parts that had been fused together into a malevolent beast. It was an oval and quite flat machine with some sort of engine or fan in it, accompanied with a long handle bar. It was a very alien object to Hiccup.

"Uh- A pile of scrap metal?" The brunette looked up at the blond questioningly.

"Oh, you would think that now would you? But no, its appearance is deceiving-" Gobber clonked the metal piece with his other prosthetic piece, his left hand, a high-tech and myoelectric device. "- since it's actually a hovercraft machine, I finally found some use for all those blowers and vacuum cleaners in my storage."

"That's-"He paused as he gaped at the invention. "That's actually quite awesome Gobber." Hiccup finished as he investigated the hovercraft with great particularity, touching all the pieces and shapes with awe. It wasn't the most beautiful machine, but the sheer purpose of the machine was flabbergasting. He circled around it several times to absorb every piece of information and memorize all the parts of the device.

"Well." Gobber straightened his spine because of the newfound pride. "There is one of those hovercraft contests in the city soon. But since I'm not, well, the best at designing machines, I thought that you might want to spiff it up a bit?"

"Yeah, the metal has surely seen better days." Hiccup acknowledged while he hunched close to the floor to get a clearer view of the fans.

The blond waved dismissively. "Yeah yeah, laugh at it all you want, are you up to it or not?"

Hiccup shrugged nonchalantly, but his smile revealed his true emotions. "Eh, I might have some extra time to improve it a bit." In fact, the brunette was legendary for his enthusiasm when it involved inventions, because he would basically postpone every important event for days in order to just finish one machine. Gobber had to sometimes throw him out of the workshop, because he didn't want the lad's grades to drop just because of an invention that wasn't that important in the end. Thus the blond always needed to discuss with Hiccup's father to be certain that the auburn-haired boy didn't have any essential upcoming events when he introduced his new inventions and ideas to the lad.

"That's my boy." Gobber patted on the shorter boy's shoulders before he headed back to the front room to fetch some adequate tools for the job, but before he reached the door frame, Hiccup's attention was fixed on a strange, neat and black costume in the corner. And he couldn't help but to question it.

"I didn't know that you were designing clothes these days as well?" Hiccup smirked at Gobber.

"Designing clothes? Me?" His metal hand hit his chest in a comical way, widening his eyes and raising his eyebrows to the hairline. "Now look here, that's not some regular piece of clothing. It's a wingsuit."

The brunette frowned at the unfamiliar word. "Wingsuit?"

"Yea', some crazy old tosser barged himself into this shop and demanded that I should make one for him. It is for gliding. Apparently you jump from a cliff and then try to glide with the winds by using that costume. Sounds like suicide to me, but well. The Vikings had worse activities, so I didn't question his hobbies."

Hiccup's face bloomed an expression of awe and excitement, because he had just received the most brilliant idea.

"Do you have some blueprints for it?"

"Of course I have." Gobber scoffed. "Why? Do you want to become one of those crazy hoppers?"

"Well, I've to impress Dad in some way." He shrugged. "Nah, I know someone who is into that kind of thing. I thought it could be a nice present."

"Well then, the blueprints are on my desk. But the hovercraft is the priority number one, alright?"

"Yeah yeah, I got it."

Hiccup was basically bouncing on the inside, because he would make this piece of excellence even more awesome than the other hovercrafts in the contest. If there was anything that he enjoyed as much as drawing, then it was the contests with Gobber. The adrenaline would circulate in his body and send electric shocks of excitement across his limbs while they competed against various other inventors; it was one of the most amazing events. But his thoughts just encircled around Jack instead of the contest as he upgraded the machine. Probably Jack would probably think that this little thing of power was incredibly awesome, but also because he intended to create a pair of wingsuits after the machine. He couldn't wait to show the suits for the snow-haired boy once Hiccup had finished them by his own hands. Grinning with excitement, he began the transformation of the hovercraft and formed ideas how to design the wingsuits in the best possible way.

* * *

**To be continued! What kind of plan do Hiccup have for the wingsuits, eh? (not hard to guess) **

**Otherwise, I've to announce some sad news. I don't have any more rough sketches/writing of this story, I've loads of ideas (I ain't kidding. LOADS), but I haven't written anything yet since I've lost my motivation as a writer atm. But I will still keep this story alive! It might just take a bit longer for this to be updated than before. Until next time!**


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